


Only Time Will Tell

by TheDove_Eyes



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Afterdeath Blue/Dream Cross/Nightmare Crossmare Kréme Killer/Dream Horrorlust Horror/Lust, Anti-Void, Blood and Violence, Drama, Dreamtale, Eight!, Errortale, I'll add small spoilers into the tags cuz mystery, InkTale, Kidnapping, Little by little..., M/M, Mild Gore, Mistery, Monsters, Multiverse, Romance, Secrets, Someone's gonna pass and it ain't gonna be me., Underfell, Underfresh - Freeform, Virus, ihatedream, underswap - Freeform, undertale - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23331361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDove_Eyes/pseuds/TheDove_Eyes
Summary: Nobody noticed what was happening.Nobody noticed until it a was too late.Will they manage to save the Multiverse or is it doomed from the beginning?Well...Only Time Will Tell.
Relationships: Cross/Nightmare, Dream/Killer, Error/Ink, Reaper/Geno, SortofBlue/Dust
Comments: 52
Kudos: 80





	1. The 'Before'

**Author's Note:**

> Introduction to our 1st main character

In a Multiverse far, far away... A skeleton lived.  
An artist. A protector.. A friend.. A foe.. An Enemy.. A god.  
Those were some of the titles others gave him.. The other ones are admittedly a little bit embarrassing.. 

He was a born god and guardian who had a soul of gold and only did good deeds. Always thought about others and never about himself. He was spoken of in a lot of children tails and stories, always the hero.  
Selfless, nice, smart, genius, curious.. He wouldn't hurt a fly and only fought when he had to. Everybody loved him, but who would? The naturally likable skeleton won everybody's heart. There wasn't a single good person that hated him.  
.....  
At least that's what people say.  
What people believe.  
What people tell their children in stories.  
At least that's what people want to believe.  
He would think..

Was it the truth tho? Hell no..  
But he wasn't going to ruin his people's precious beliefs, was he? See, Ink is a simple person. All he wanted was to be remembered. If it meant lying to people about his past, he was all for it. A little, harmless lie never hurt anybody, right?... Well.... He didn't care anyway. He couldn't care anyway. He lacked emotions, even worse, he lacked a soul.  
It was a handicap he got used to living with a long time ago. He conquered the feeling of emptiness with paints, tho they could never satisfy him and replace real emotions  
Different color, different emotion.  
He even mixed some together to make them last longer, or to make an entirely different emotion itself. It had to be in a specific pattern and in a specific amount tho. And if he drank way too much, way too fast... Well.. You don't want to know the aftermath. It was dangerous and he learned that the hard way.

Paint was also his skill. He could move paint, manipulate it. He could make weapons as sharp as a dagger with the smallest amount, but with limitations, of course.  
He couldn't create any living being. Couldn't create a soul, couldn't create worlds. Maybe because he lacked one himself..  
The title of being the creator of the Universes was a mere lie he let the others believe. He didn't know the real creator of the multiverse, all he knew from the outside world were the... "creators" as he called them. They were the creators of the Au's, he thought. He simply helped them with their problems. Of course, he never knew that wasn't the entire truth. He couldn't directly speak to the creators, only go by "his gut feeling". Or small, often appearing whispers, if there was a big problem. 

He didn't know the creator of the multiverse was amongst them. Because he simply couldn't remember.  
He didn't remember his creator, he didn't remember names of every person in the multiverse, he didn't remember his past and he didn't remember if he ate this morning.  
Wait what did he eat this morning?  
Did he even eat or did he forget again?  
He probably ate, he would get yelled at by dream if he didn't. 

Dream would be pissed at him.  
..?.  
For what tho? He couldn't remember again..  
Dream would be sighing if he was with him right now, probably found the forgetfulness annoying, like every time he forgot to eat or take care of himself. 

Wait has he taken care of himself today?  
He's eaten already, hasn't he?  
Dream and Blue would be mad at him if he hadn't.  
Wait.. has he said that before?

He didn't know.  
Or maybe he did, he just didn't remember. But that doesn't make any sense, does it..?  
He probably had it written somewhere on his scarf.  
His scarf was like a memory card. Every important moment or a moment he just wanted to remember, was written on that scarf. From paint combos to some names, to simple notes up to deadlines.  
He became so coordinated in his scarf, it was a miracle he didn't forget with how chaotic the scarf notes were. But just in case, he had the directions of how to read his notes written down as well. 

If he lost his scarf, he would've been done for. If it ripped, it would be bad as well. Not as bad, but still very bad, because he would be able to repair it, but he wouldn't be able to remember the notes on that part of the scarf if he didn't have the rippesd part. A whole part of his memory would just be... Gone.. Just like that. 

Just like an innocent Au when his enemy destroys it.  
But was Error really Ink's enemy? Ink thought of him as a friend, and ignored all the times the evil individual ripped his bones apart or was just generally mean towards him.  
Maybe he didn't remember those times?.. No... No, that wasn't it. 

He always tries to remember everything when it comes to Error. He always thought of Error as an interesting person. He adores him for having a very similar life starting story.  
Waking up in a white void and becoming mental.  
Ink just got to seem like the good guy, aka, the protector.  
And Error... Error just got to seem like the evil, mean, bad guy. Because he didn't except his fate.  
He thought Error was just misunderstood..

He was just kind of different to Ink. Always stood out from the few different evil entities in the multiverse. Maybe his appearance? No... It was his personality.  
Because even if he was an asshole all the time, there were moments Ink loved to remember. Like the break days they would spend enjoying the view in Outertale. First it was just at different sides of the Au, then different sides of the rocky, floating island and recently, they started to talk from time to time.  
Of course, Ink was ecstatic about that and became more and more interested in the destroy. The mere curiosity he always "felt" was almost unnerving. Overwhelming, but he got used to it.  
Ink was desperate to find out more. It felt like he was Ink's long lost brother when he first heard about Error's past, and it made him happy. It made his ECSTATIC that someone shared the same beginnings. The first memories.  
He wanted to learn more, and it kinda became an obsession... And got a little out of hand at some point.

No one knew about it except his best friend, Dream. No one else. No one. And he was alright with keeping it a secret.  
He always kept secrets himself, so he would be disappointed if Dream chirped the information out 

He didn't want Error to know, because he knew the destroyer would look at him differently from then on. He would get weirded out and their bond Ink managed to make and maintain over the years would be completely ruined. The effort wasted. And Ink didn't want that.

Plus, Error helped him a little bit. When there was something wrong with an AU, Error would immediately know and destroy the mistake or anomaly, maintaining balance.  
He was sort of like a vulture, always cleaning the Multiverse out. Pff-  
Like a cleaning lady. 

Blue was similar. His friend only cleaned Ink's home tho, not the entire Multiverse, tho, Ink had a suspicious that if Blue could, he probably would. 

Speaking of Blue, Ink was suppose to meet his friend today. But something happened a few hours ago that sent him into a panic and basically forget..  
Something shifted. The timeline, the roles, the circle, SOMETHING. But Ink didn't know what, or why. He had no idea, and that made him panic. 

A shifting of time in the entire Multiverse could make up so many new problems, and if he wasn't careful, it would even be able to destroy the whole place..  
He had to find out what happened and how to get things back to normal, otherwise things would get messy. 

He ran around his house, trying to fins any note, anything about the Multiverse shifting. How to stop it, how to prevent it, anything would be good at this point... Yet he had no luck.  
After about an hour of searching and another hour of writing stuff down and trying to figure out what the hell happened, he finally sat down on his couch. He was going to relax.  
Tho wasn't he suppose to do something today? Wasn't he suppose to go somewhere? Hmmm..

When he remembered he was going to see Blue today tho, his friend was already calling him. Great timing... At least that's what he thought. 

Only Time Will Tell what it really means.


	2. Not-So-Obvious signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a first look on Error and Blue.  
> And the adventure starts :)

First it was just a small nagging feeling at the back of the glitch's head... That small feeling of something being wrong, but not knowing what it was... Displeasing, let's say. 

Error tried to bury the feeling with everything he could think of, but his nonexistent stomach still churned and twisted.  
Not unusual, per say...  
Small glitches, _small_ rips or _small_ anomalies appeared quite often in the seemingly endless, yet still cramped, void of the Multiverse. He would delete them sooner or later, since they weren't really dangerous to deal with. Error didn't need to hurry deleting the glitches anyway, they could be easily found in the code of the effected universe, so he could delete them whenever he wanted.  
He also didn't hury because glitches often played in his favor, corrupting the core of _THE_ effected AU and making his job a lot more easier.  
But at times, they did him dirty.

Sometimes, another AU was made entirely from an anomaly, the idea of something being different in the universe striking curiosity and inspiration in some creator.  
Sometimes, in the worse case, another Glitch would start occupying the Anti-Void. Like Seraphim or Bluescreen. Those were more difficult to deal with, but not impossible.  
Deals or blackmails weren't his strong suit, but he could make them believable if he wanted to. Just some threats on their loved ones and they're just like his small puppets! He didn't even need his strings. But.... Psychological strings count as well, he guessed..

But all those annoyingly difficult things aside, he didn't need to worry. At least... That's what he believed.  
... 

He was trying to dismiss the thought until the voices started basically _screeching_ about something not being right.  
They've been quiet all day, or at least, quieter than usual, when suddenly their screams filled the space in Error's head instead of the peaceful sound of nothingness.

The screams came so suddenly, they frightened the poor skeleton. So much, in fact, he barely managed to hold himself from falling into a reboot.  
He kept twitching and flinched every time a new voice would join in.

  
Oh, he was having _such_ a nice day off, thinking he could go stargazing to his favorite Genocide route in Outertale and steal some spicy boi chocolate on the way, but noooo! All _thi_ s shit had to happen!

Even the voices were more quiet than usual that day!  
But now, he couldn't relax. Now he wouldn't be able to relax all day, maybe all week, or maybe even an entire _month_!  
Error wasn't the calmest monster in the Multiverse, or anywhere in that matter. He has always been very tense, so much so it looked like he was constantly calm, when he was internally dying 24/7. He rarely got to relax and could be often seen destroying universes with bags under his eyes.

This was suppose to be his day off. He thought he would sleep, relax more, stargaze... Anything else but this.

The point is, now his day worsened by a mile.  
It took half a damn hour to calm the voices down and even longer to shut them up completely. It had gone to the point where he was screaming at them to shut up, tho he couldn't even properly hear himself over all of them. He was nearly crying at some point as well. They caused him an enormous headache.  
And when they finally went quiet again? He was pissed. 

  
He scolded them as if they were children taking more than one candy from a bowl on Halloween. It was pathetic.

His enemy, Ink, would probably laugh at him if he was here. Good thing the brain-dead idiot was busy preparing for his 'meeting'. 

  
Yet... now he was curious. When glitches or small anomalies appeared, the voices never freaked out.  
Even when it was a new Outcode, the stupider voices would just get excited and start nagging the destroyer to befriend them. The more bloodthirsty ones suggesting him to torture or to simply kill them... Show them who's the boss around here, he guessed.

But they never panicked. 

  
See, the voices weren't from Error's Multiverse, he knew that. He didn't know where they were from, but he certainly knew they were something like gods. Some of them created universes and some of them made different timelines of some universes.

He found that out a long time ago, around the time he met the brain-dead idiot named Ink. But that is a different story for a different day.

They were always calm when a problem appeared, tho, even the psychotic ones, yet this time.... This time something was definitely wrong.  
And that intrigued him to no end. 

The Glitch had to find out what got them so worked up earlier, but he couldn't ask them. They would probably just start screaming about something being wrong or something messing up again and give him another headache. He wasn't about that life, so asking wasn't an option. 

He would have to find out himself, he guessed.

First, he checked the 'universal code' as he called it. It was basically just a screen full of code. There were records of every universe he came across.  
When he discovers a new universe, he always makes sure to put it in the database. It is mainly not to forget about it, and make sure he destroys both the universe itself as well as it's copies sooner or later.

  
After summoning the coded screen, he swept his hand upwards. The meters wide screen scrolled down on command, revealing more and more universes as it went. He scanned through it with his eyes, even putting his red, circle shaped glasses on for the sake of it.  
Without them, he would probably not be able to see a damn thing.  
But every universe seemed fine so far, to his annoyance. Maybe the problem was in a universe he hasn't been in before? If that was the case, this would just be a waste of time..  
...

  
It took about five minutes to scroll down to the bottom, with absolutely no new information to come out of it. The frustrated error growled under his breath.  
So he WAS wasting his time after all. All this _TIME_ he could've been investigating somewhere else!  
Could've probably found out the entire reason this fucking thing is happening by now. If only he wasn't so fucking stupid.

Nonetheless, now he would have to go around the perimeter and look for the problem in the newer abominations he hasn't been to yet.  
While Error was thinking about what to do next, the feeling from earlier got a thousand times worse. He felt like he needed to throw up, nausea hitting him out of the blue. It made him bend down and breathe heavily. It felt as if his entire insides just turned upside down. Like a colic in a horse.. It was unbearable.  
The world spun and Error eventually fell down flat on his ass. Good thing no one was there, or he would have to waste his energy on killing them. There was no way he would let them go after seeing _THAT_ embarrassment.

And then, out of the blue, it happened.  
The shift.  
The flip of the entire damned multiverse.  
Turns out his stomach wasn't the only thing that flipped. Instead, the whole fucking Multiverse did, for Asgoro's sake!!!  
It felt like an earthquake, the whole goddamn ground shaking and twitching the entire time.

  
Looking around himself, the Glitch frowned. All his stuff; his hammock, beanbag, the web of strings he had on the ceiling.. It was all shaking in sync with the white floor. Even all of his dolls fell to the ground. They looked useless. Lifeless voodoo dolls that looked like children's toys.  
Of course, Error handcrafted them himself, so they were neither useless, nor meant for children. Fuck children..! Not literally, of course.

But now instead of the voices, there was loud ringing in his head. This piercing, high pitched noise that could make anyone go insane if they listened to it for too long..  
It was like that one test where you find out what's the highest frequency your ear can detect.  
Or when a pistol fires right next to you and you're not wearing any ear protection.  
Except it was only one frequency and it never stopped. 

Well.... Never stopped is a strong sentence, since it stopped just as abruptly and just as fast as the void stopped shaking.  
It took a few minutes for the Glitch to recover from the horrible experience, the thing effecting him on a psychological level. Not only the physical part. 

His eyelights finally came back to life and he looked around.  
What a mess! It was all so so so _messy_ _!_ And looking at the fallen hammock, the dead-looking dolls laying on the ground, the cut strings scattered across the bloody feild. Yep... It _WILL_ take a bloody long time!

But he can't worry about that right now. He needs to visit an Au. He didn't know why, but he had a giant urge to go to that universe. There wasn't a reason, just the simple urge.  
Error accepted it tho. He stood back up, as if nothing just happened, and brushed the dust off. The nausea was gone, and the voices were merely whispering. Weird... 

Ignoring all that just happened, he opened a portal. The _REVEAL_ of the Au in question would've been majestic, if Error didn't look like a literal tractor ran over him..  
Poor thing... 

But now...

  
To the one and only...

_**Underswap** _ ****

_**.................** _

"I'll be back by eight !" Blue called out to his brother, who was watching TV somewhere in their apartment. "So don't you dare make a mess!" He warned.

After hearing a lazy hum that proved Papy had heard him, he happily turned around and walked out of the apartment door. It closed behind him and soon enough, he locked it, smiling all the while.  
It was currently 7:30AM. 'A perfect time to go shopping!', he thought.

He was preparing a very special lunch today, too.  
Because today, his two best friends were coming over! They haven't visited Blue in such a long tiiiime...! What was probably only half a month, felt like a year. Blue obviously knew time passed differently in different places of the Multiverse.  
That's why he's been calling them for the past week to make sure they didn't forget their meeting. That was today... In only about three hours..

Crap..!  
He needed to hurry. If he wanted to make the perfect tacos for his friends, he needed to have enough time to make them! Oh, and he also needed to make sure his home was clean before even letting them step into the four roomed home.. He would be really embarrassed if there was a mess when they arrived. No way he's letting that happen!

He went down the stairs, passing the four floors under theirs.  
Jumping down the last three stairs on each floor, the energetic skeleton was soon outside, skipping to the nearby store across the street.  
The sun is shining quite bright today, no cloud in the sky.  
'What a day...' Blue thought, looking up at the perfectly clear sky before finally walking in.

Ever since Chara made a promise to never reset again, life's been good.  
They've been on the surface for five years now and the humans have gotten pretty used to monsters, of course, also vice versa.

Ever since the day they were freed, both monsters and humans decided to have an anniversary the day they arrived.  
That one day each and every year... Was just plain magical ...!  
There were parties at night, carnivals, festivals, tours and attractions in the day.. Street food, small street stores, even whole restaurants were built just for the occasion!  
The town Blue lived in was the heart of the party. It was closest to the mountain and it was also the place humans and monsters decided on peace.

People around the world sometimes travelled to this exact place, just to see, smell, hear and maybe join in on all the fun!  
It was just overly happy everywhere around the time of the holiday, which Blue loved.

That certain day was only a week away now, and people were already building their attractions, street stores along with decorations symbolising the peace monsters and humans have agreed upon.

Blue was obviously excited. It made his day just a little better, and his shopping even quicker.  
Another good thing that happened because of the lack of resets, is the ability to help the Universes more.  
Ink gave Blue the ability to hop between Au's a long time ago, and ever since, he's been helping out wherever he could.

Of course, the three friends knew each other before Chara's promise, but Ink and Dream let him travel through the multiverse only after it. Which was strange, yes, but Blue didn't question.  
At least not yet...

It's been really fun, seeing all the different worlds, the inspiration behind them, the timelines, routes...  
Tho... Ink and Dream told him to stop helping about a month ago.  
They told him not to leave his Au and to not even think about helping.

Without an explanation, Blue became suspicious and tried to bring the subject up every time he could, but it was always ignored and dismissed. That made him even _more_ suspicious.  
He will get answers out of the two if his life depended on it!  
Blue was planning on asking a couple of questions while they hang out today anyway.. And if he has to, he will take extreme measures to beat the answers out of them!

Never mind... There surely had to be an explanation.  
He shouldn't worry about that right now..  
He should only think about picking the right ingredients!

Already had tomatoes... Lettuce... Eggs... Beetroots...  
Hmmm... Was he forgetting something?  
Wait... Cheese! He had to get cheese!  
Good thing he remembered.

Walking through the snacks aisle, Blue arrived at the freezers.  
And only after he found _THE_ perfect cheese for his magnificent tacos, did Blue go to the cash register.  
Seems like he has everything he needs... Everything else should be at home.

Now he just needed to pay, go home, clean up and make his famous tacos! It was safe to say he was jumping down the street with excitement.

....

When Blue finally arrived home, his shoes quickly left his feet and were met with the cold floor instead.  
His bare feet met the welcomingly fluffy carpet and he quickly ran into the kitchen, setting the magnificent ingredients for his awesome Tacos on the counter.  
Everything nice and prepared! But before he could start, he had to clean up first.

First, Blue checked his room, which was... perfectly clean.  
He checked the living room and the bathroom next, which were... pretty okay. Their balcony was a little messy, but they weren't going there anyway. Did he clean the apartment earlier? He didn't remember... Eh... Didn't matter.

... Nevermind the cleaning. He could focus on making his famous Tacos instead! He probably cleaned up yesterday in his free time. Or he cleaned in his sleep... That would explain why he didn't remember. Pap said he saw him clean the kitchen at night a while back.. Which was.... Admittedly a bit weird, but he didn't mind. At least his home was clean!  
But he was tired in the morning....  
But his home was clean!

Blue walked back to the kitchen, and as he was approaching the counter...  
It all glitched out...?!

The whole room started to fill up with glitches and a faint buffing sound swirled in the air.  
He stared at the counter, unable to move, unable to do anything. He just stared.  
Soon enough, the glitches moved to his body.  
Ringing sounded in his head, as if thousands of whistles were squealing next to his ears.  
He could move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't see...!! Oh god.. He couldn't see!!

The glitches fizzed on his body, bringing stinging pain on every spot they touched. They krept around his eyes and formed a big cloud around his head.  
He tried to scream, to run, to cry out or call for help.... But the only sound he could hear as well as make, was just buzzing.  
It sounded like the static noise you hear when something is wrong with your TV. Blue thought he would hear that sound only next to his TV, or when he saw Error absolutely furious. He never thought he would encounter the nagging sound like this..

But then it went black.  
All the sounds stopped, and he could breathe again.  
At first, he thought he became blind, but it was proved wrong when he opened his eyes.  
He groaned quietly and rubbed the sore, blue eyesockets, he had. He blinked a few times.  
When he turned his head and looked around, his eyes widened.

His arm dropped from his skull, and mouth gaped open.  
He was...  
He was in his old room...  
In his old house.  
In the Underground...!

Shocked, his breathing quickened.  
No... No no no no no.... That couldn't have been right.  
Why was he here again?? The resets stopped! They were all happy! They were all free..!  
This had to be a bad dream. No, a nightmare!  
He blinked a few more times, tears forming in the small sockets.

Why wasn't he waking up yet? This couldn't have been real... No...  
Silently, he kicked the blanket off of himself and got out of his kiddy-bed. He went to the door and his shaky hand reached for the handle.  
When Blue opened it, he teared up even more.  
It was all there...  
The walls, the railing, the stairs.. It was all there. And they didn't even look like they've been abandoned.  
It looked like he just woke up from a very long dream, but he knew that wasn't a dream..! It couldn't have been!

But it all seemed so clean... There wasn't even a speck of dust, and even the ever so nostalgic scent of honey was present. It was all so familiar... So.. So familiar. .

Maybe he could ask Papyrus what happened?  
Yeah... He would surely know what to do.  
So immediately, he ran down the stairs, his shaking legs almost tripping before he landed on the steady ground.  
And there, in the living room, as if nothing happened, layed Papyrus, just lazing around.  
"Pap... Papyrus...?" Blue choked out, confused as to how his brother could be so calm.  
"Something wrong, bro? Why are you crying?" Pap turned his head to look at him, confusion written all over his face.  
"Did you have a nightmare..?" He asked quietly, frowning and sitting up. "What...? How can be so calm..??" Blue exclaimed. How could his brother act like it was just a regular day?! The... The whole universe just reset!

Pap frowned even further, pondering what his brother was on about. "Chara just reset! Worse, it was probably something similar to a true reset..! " Blue was absolutely confused. Why did Chara reset? Why was Pap acting as if nothing happened? Wasn't HE suppose to be the one that remembered everything?  
All those questions swirled around in his head, creating more and more questions by the second.  
But what Papyrus said next, left him haunted. It scarily shocked him so much, he ran up the stairs to his room a second later. He didn't even care it was rude to run off in the middle of a conversation..

"Who the hell is Chara..?" Was what left Papyrus's mouth. Those the few simple words that send blaring red alarms in his head.  
He immediately ran upstairs, shutting the door to his room behind himself. Running to his nightstand, he opened every drawer he had and pulled everything out.  
He was looking for the small vial filled with ink he had hidden somewhere in his room. It was for emergency purposes and was suppose to only be used when the universe was in danger.

But he needed to call Ink. He needed to call both him and Dream, in fact.  
Chara showed no intention in wanting to reset, no signs, nothing. So... Something bad must've happened.   
If it was a reset, then it wasn't right, because when the universe resets, it never acted like that. Not even when a true reset happened.. Nothing ever glitched out, nor has he ever blacked out before...  
He needed to make sure the two other guardians didn't mess something up in the code, or haven't planned this all along.  
But that didn't seem like them. Well... At least the 'planning it all along' part didn't add up. They messed stuff up constantly, tho not this bad.

He needed some answers.. And he was gonna get them. The _TRUTH_ will be revealed to him whether the two boneheads liked it or not! No more secrets! He needed them here first, tho. Couldn't properly question them over the phone...

Upstairs, he ended up ravaging through his shelves, his two closets, through his desk, under the rug, in his nightstand, in his five cupbosards and under his bed.  
In the end, he found it in a small box with books, under the bed. The skeleton grasped the thin glass container and almost laughed in relief. Finally!

Ignoring the mess on the floor, the liquid slowly poured out of the opened container in his hand. It dripped to the ground with a satisfying splash as if it was just plain water. Oddly liquid, tho it was ink and not paint, he supposed.

With a shaky voice, he called once. "Ink..." After a while, he called a second time. "Ink." More firmer.  
"Ink.." The thirds attempt. "Ink!" And the fourth.  
Slowly but surely loosing his patience, Blue looked down and called out for the last time. He would give up if it didn't work. "Ink.... Ink..!! Ink!!"  
He called desperately, hands balling into fists and eyes closing in silent prayer. Why wasn't he here yet?? He usually came before the third call, fourth if he was on the verge of dying or just simply couldn't. Did something happened to Ink, Dream and the rest of the Multiverse aswell...?  
He prayed they were alright.. Both the guardians and the rest of the AU's.. The guardians were his best friends.. And the other AU's deserved to stay safe.

Suddenky, almost as if god answered, the ink started bubbling up. The bubbles rose as if from a witch's cauldron, popping with a quiet click and the remains of it dropping back to the floor. Soon, it started rising all together, forming something similar to a blob before making simple features step by step.  
It was short, built from feet first, to head last.

A figure. It stood short in the room, the body absorbing all the black liquid and forming it into it's body.  
It blinked a few times, it's eyelights changing changing rapidly to figure out where it was. But when it's eyelights landed on the crouched down figure of Blue on the floor, it smiled and pat his head.

"Blue!" Ink exclaimed, seemingly not noticing the trembling feature that was added to Blue.  
The said skeleton looked up, sighing shakily.   
"Ink... What the heck happened..?" He asked as soon as he recovered at least a little bit. "The whole universe... My room.. It... It glitched and now I'm here! I don't known what happened... I... I...."

"Whoaaa, buddy.. Calm down. Dream should be here any minute, and then we can talk about everything that's happened. I don't know _what_ happened, but it seemed to only affect your universe. It should be fine. We'll probably be able to fix it." Ink squat in front of him, patting his shoulder.   
"Probably??" Blue frowned. "Nevermind... I'm sure we can fix it somehow." Ink shook his head, looking away.  
"You promise? I don't want to go back to this life.... Ink.. Please." The younger monster pleaded, earning a guilty look and a sigh from the other  
"I promise...." Was the fake response. The fakest one, yet the most genuine-looking one.  
"Now... We should get you calmed down before Dream comes. You want some water?" He asked, eyelights changing into blue hourglasses.

.....

"Yeah... I want water, please.."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an illustration for this as well, but I have literally no idea of how I can add an image to a chapter on ao3, so I'm sorry. A small fraction of the story is missing until I figure that out, so yaaaay! It won't make the plot worse, just a small detail missing. 
> 
> But it's a crappy drawing anyway, so at least your eyes won't burn :')
> 
> Sorry for grammar issues, it's literally midnight, so I'm blaming it on that lmao. 
> 
> Have a good day/night and buh-bye!  
> ~Dovey


	3. Soon..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink has a few existential crises throughout the chapter and I hate Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TO THE GREMLIN CALLED ERROR :D

Ink was currently pacing around Blue's kitchen, pondering what the hell was happening. For the past three months, something was unstable in the Multiverse. It started with the usual pain in his chest, like always when a universe was being destroyed. It lead to Underswap. But when he arrived there, prepared to fight, everything was normal.  
Everything was still the same, and Error didn't even visit.   
It didn't stop there, tho. It started happening every week, and recently, it turned to every day... Yet nothing was ever even different! No rips in code, no glitches, nothing! It was _so_ confusing!!  
Nothing like this ever happened before... Even when glitches appeared, it acted differently..!

He asked himself questions like: What could be wrong...? Why has Underswap reset..? Did an unplanned Multiverse shift occur? Why has everyone forgotten?   
Sure, if it was a true reset... But Blue shouldn't remember either, if that's the case! Why was HE the only one that didn't forget?   
It wouldn't even make sense in the code! Here, Papyrus is the equivalent to Sans, and there wouldn't be any reason for Blue keeping his memory... Plus, _noone_ else remembered as far as he knew! They went around, asking people if they remembered anything, but everyone looked at them as if they were crazy.   
He couldn't understand...   
He couldn't answer his own questions...

Unfortunately, they were left unanswered when Ink came back to reality, his eyelights changing shapes and color with each blink. He could hear Dream scolding him from the living room. Just his voice sounded the most angry he's heard him in years..  
Ink didn't think he even wanted to go to the other room... That surely wouldn't end up well..   
That's because Ink maaay or may not have made Blue drink a few shots of alcohol.  
He just intended on loosening Blue up tho, not make him drunk! He's been tense the entire time they searched for answers in the underground-- his posture rigid and voice shaky.  
He wanted Blue to be relaxed, since he's Ink's friend. But instead.... He made him drunk.   
Not a good decision. But now Ink new Blue was a lightweight as well.. Which would not let him make the same mistake again! He even wrote it down on his scarf, so he was sure he'd remember next time.

Letting his thoughts disappear after he wrote them down, Ink slowly walked into the living room. He decided it would be the right thing to confront Dream.. Couldn't stay hidden in the kitchen forever, after all..  
He looked down when Dream hissed from the couch.  
"What were you even _thinking_ _??!_ Ink! _Look_ at him!" Dream's yellow eyelights pierced through the one in question, judging every move he made. His thumb pointed at Blue and his other fingers curled into a fist.   
When Ink looked over, he saw Blue playing with Dream's crown on the couch. He was curled up, head on an arm of the couch and knees pressed to his chest. His feet were pressed against Dream's clothed femur, but neither of them seemed to mind.

When Dream's gaze hardened, Ink looked away again. It was similar to when a dog does something wrong and the owner scolds him. It was kind of funny..

"I didn't mean to... I'm sorry.   
I just wanted him to relax and not be so tense." The artist muttered, his hands raising in front of him in defence. "By making him drunk?? That was absolutely irresponsible! If Blue's brother was here, he'd surely murder you! You're really lucky that Papyrus went out before you drugged his sweet little brother." "I didn't drug him!" "And do you think Papyrus would care??! You're on thin ice with him ever since the second visit! And now, since he doesn't remember anything, you'd _surely_ be dust if he was here!"

The two argued back and fourth and soon, Dream gave up.  
Exhausted from the verbal fight, he shook his head, said something about taking care of Blue and then rushed upstairs with the said skeleton in his arms.

Ink was left alone downstairs for a few minutes, allowing his thoughts to overtake him again. Throughout those few minutes, he managed to question himself again.  
The questions swirled through his mind like a tornado, destroying everything in it's path.  
The thoughts were so destructive, that Ink forgot where he was, how he got here, _why_ he was here and why he was currently slumped down on the couch.   
On instinct, when the artistic skeleton came back to his senses, he reached for his scarf. Before he started his search tho, he grabbed a small magic 'calendar' and read the number on it. '013 7613', he read, and immediately started searching for that number on his scarf. It was.... Really unorganized, but he eventually found the number on the bottom of his scarf.

Under the number, all the notes from this day's patrol were there.   
From the confusing glitch that occurred in Underswap today, to the new chocolate frosting in CandyTale, all the way to a _big_ exclamation point, where the note to NEVER give Blue alcohol again, was written.

Oh! Right! That's why he was slumped down on the couch, feeling like crap! He and Dream were arguing about alcohol just a few minutes ago! Or was it an hour ago...? Never mind.. It doesn't seem to be that important.

What matters is to find out what the glitch was, right? Yeah, that had to be it.

His thoughts were cut short when Dream stomped back down the stairs, the artist's skull immediately snapping towards him.   
"Hey Dream." He greeted, smiling sadly. The blue paint was slowly wearing off, but it will still take a while to completely vanish.  
To the sound of the voice, Dream looked over with a frown, arms crossed. "Blue's sleeping, thankfully. Don't wake him up.." The skeleton sat down on the couch next to Ink and sighed. Ink knew what Dream was gonna ask. He wasn't excited for the question, but it seemed unavoidable.   
"What do you think happened here..?" The question lingered through the room, the sound bumping around the walls and slowly, bitterly disappearing in the atmosphere. The response that followed came in a hurry. Almost as if Ink was waiting for the question for years. "No! I... I have no idea what happened." Ink hurried, and sighed when he saw Dream nodding in acknowledgement.   
"It must've been Error.... That son of a gun is always behind everything bad that happens in our Multiverse! Except when my brother's team does some shenanigans.."   
"No! Error doesn't do things like this..!   
If he decides to destroy a universe, he does it _cleanl_ y. He never let's glitches spread in AU's. I'm sure it wasn't Error.." Ink retorted. He was 100% sure the error was innocent. He doesn't let AU's be half destroyed, always either finishing his job or getting his ass whooped by Ink.

"Well what else do you think happened??" Dream huffed, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.   
Unfortunately, Ink couldn't even imagine how he felt, so he stayed silent.   
"Ink... Error is one of the few monsters powerful enough to do such a thing! How could you defend him??" The irritation and betrayal that rang out throughout Dream's voice surprised Ink a little bit, but he didn't back down. He never backs down.

"Error doesn't have the ability to reset Universes... He only destroys them." He frowned at the ground, his eyes changing shapes from a green oval, to a blue square.   
"Ink. You know darn well he would be able to hide his new ability from you. The fact that you have sort of an obsession about becoming Error's friend doesn't mean he isn't hiding anything! He isn't like you, Ink. He is your _enemy_ _._ He will never be your friend and you _know_ it, Ink." Dream mumbled the last sentence, quite done with their conversation.   
"Maybe... we could ask Sci? The Sci in Timeline #348. We told him about the Multiverse, right? Maybe he could somehow help us?" Ink gave an idea, trying to change the uncomfortable subject.   
"Hey.... That isn't such a bad idea...! You're right!" Dream immediately lightened up, smiling his intoxicating, crooked smile. Many people saw only straight, beautiful white teeth in that smile, but the few people that knew Dream well enough could see the difference between his genuine and his fake smiles. His fake smiles were forced and unpleasant. They sent a shiver down your spine, even tho they sparked joy.   
The joy was fake tho, it was the intoxicating one you get greedy over. It's positive, but causes so much more negativity... So much more pain and jealousy in the aftermath. The worst thing about it was that not a lot of people realized...

Sometimes... Ink could see _why_ Nightmare did what he did.. Dream could be such a sweetheart, but he could also become the literal spawn of Lucifer if he wanted to.   
Dream was... Let's say... A complicated skeleton.

"Blue should be asleep for a while, so we should head out as soon as possible.." Dream continued to smile.

After the two of them got ready, Dream created a sparkling portal to ST#0348. The yellow portal churned and swirled, inviting the two inside.   
When they stepped through, they appeared in front of Sci's office. It was in his hidden lab, so they didn't worry about anybody else seeing them.

As soon as their feet landed on the ground, they heard a yelp on their right, and a sound of something breaking.   
"Shit!"   
The frightened monster squat down, inspecting something on the ground.

"Hey Sci!" Ink waved at the crouched down skeleton, smiling sheepishly.   
"Hey guys.." He responded, picking up shards of his broken ceramic mug off the floor.   
"Hey..! What happened??"   
"You two scared me! That's what happened!" The scientist exclaimed, starting to make his way over to his automatic trash can. "And I dropped my coffee... You both better have a good ass explanation for making me drop my precious energy potion." Sci glared.

Ink chuckled, finding the way Sci always names his coffee pretty amusing.   
"Well... Actually, we have a really good reason.   
You see... There must've been a shift a couple of hours ago.. It wasn't scheduled tho, so we're trying to find out what happened, and how it is possible that an unscheduled Multishift occurred."

"Oh..So that's what that was...? I thought we were having a surprise earthquake..."   
...  
Wait... Sci felt it too? That's.... Quite odd.  
"Interesting... You felt it too?... That's weird... " The artist of the group pondered, trailing off into thoughts, before he shook his head and began scribbling another note on his scarf.   
He needed to make sure he wouldn't forget that. It was important information.

"Yeah.. It came really suddenly. The whole underground just started shaking, and after about five minutes, it went away just as abruptly as it appeared.   
Of course, some houses and other buildings were uncommonly damaged, and a lot of monsters were injured. It was definitely stronger than a normal earthquake, but I don't think anyone died. Still... The damages aren't minor tho."  
Sci grabbed a mop and started cleaning the coffee off the yellow-tinted tiles. The smell of coffee lingered through the room like a trail of toxic waste. Of course, the smell was more pleasant than toxic waste and was also less dangerous. The taste... He didn't know.. Dream said something about those two things being similar, but he couldn't judge by what someone else said.

"Huh... I guess it effected more than just the AU's closest to the centre and the doodlesphere... Maybe every universe felt it?" Ink thought aloud, crossing his arms and changing his eyes into question marks. That was.... Not what a Multiverse shift acted like...

A Multishift occurrs when the Multiverse is way too overworked. There are too many timelines of universes and the Multiverse is getting close to it's limits.   
It's just a small warning... Basically a defence mechanism to warn Ink.   
What happens, is that timelines delete...   
The Multiverse destroys the timelines that aren't used, or those who are bound to get unfixable glitches. It cleans itself up like a metabolism, throwing out things that are toxic for it, that are not needed or those that are excessive.   
Usually, only Ink feels it.   
It doesn't really _feel_ like anything. He'd throw up, lay in bed a little and that's all.   
Oddly enough, it caused him no pain in his chest, no excessive wave of emotions. Nothing.

Occasionally, AU's that are closest to the centre of the Multiverse feel it too,-- Like DreamTale, Underswap or Underfell, but Sci's universe isn't close to the center!   
The universes that are closest to the centre feel a lot of what's going on.   
If the Multiverse is in danger, they are effected the most, because they're connected to the core the most.

The Shifts are closely monitored, tho.. The guardians would count the timeline and universe gain every week, and from there create an assumption of when a shift may occur.. But ... A shift happened only occasionally. And plus, the timeline/universe gain was normal these past weeks. It hasn't increased in a big amount, and neither has it decreased by a big amount! It was all normal!

That's what confused Ink... It acted so much like a shift, yet also so different... What is going on..?

"Maybe... But that wouldn't correspond to a Multiversic shift. Have you talked to other universe sanses? Maybe they saw something we didn't, or something happened to them that we haven't noticed." Sci muttered, putting the mop aside and walking over to the two travellers. "No, we haven't talked to anybody yet. We only asked the people in Underswap and you, but no one remembered anything.." Ink pouted, frustrated over how little they found out about the situation. "What do you mean they didn't remember?"   
Oh.... They didn't tell Sci what happened.. Err... Oopsie.."Oh! Uuh... Sorry. Forgot to tell you. When the shift occurred, something happened in Underswap... Blue said it... Glitched out, and then the whole universe reset, even tho Chara promised to stop resetting. No one remembered anything except Blue, which is weird, because Papyrus is the equivalent of Sans in that universe, which would mean _he_ would be the one that remembers everything. It doesn't make any sense that BLUE of all people would be the one that remembered and--"   
"Ink! You're rambling again..." Dream scolded, flicking his forehead and snickering down at him.

"Oh-- oopsies! Sorry, again. Didn't realize.." Ink apologized, scratching the back of his head.   
Sci, on the other hand, chuckled: "It's alright, Ink. No need to apologize. But now.. What you're saying is that Blue's world... _Glitched_ _ou_ t ... And then reset, despite the human saying they wouldn't.. No one remembered anything except Blue, who remembered ERVERYTHING." He repeated, looking up at the ceiling.   
Sci thoughtfully adjusted his glasses.  
"Yes. Everyone looked at us as if we were aliens when we asked them about it..!" Ink explained, actually remembering the event taking place..   
When they asked around, they EVEN forgot who Ink was... That lead to Ink breaking down and hyperventilating in the middle of the street. After that new information sunk deep into Ink's skull, only Blue continued on searching for information..

He was a weird skeleton for sure... He couldn't remember normal things, but as soon as someone forgot about him or didn't notice him, he remembered forever.   
Actually, his memories only consisted of waking up in a white void, all the way to discovering the AU's, and then jambling up to short cuts of people forgetting him. It was very weird, since people usually say their memories consist of other stuff...  
But... He guessed he wasn't really sane, was he?   
Nevermind... 

"Ink!!" Sci slapped him across the face, growling.   
"Wh..??" Confused, Ink held his cheek, backing up. "You dozed off... You were staring at the ground for the past minute.   
Did you even hear what I said?" Sighing, the scientist turned around and started walking elsewhere.

"Uuuh....." Feeling embarrassed, Ink took two sips of blue paint, a sip of green paint and three sips from the light blue vial. Immediately, a rainbow blush spread across his cheeks and he scratched the back of his neck once more, plain fake embarrassment written all over his face.

"I said to bring Blue here. I could try and run some tests on him to see if his code is somehow damaged or something. " He explained, Ink perking up after that. "Oh! Okay..! " Chirping, Ink finally NOTICED Dream was already gone, and quickly made his own portal...

And with that, the two guardians were off to bring Blue to Sci's lab. And that, Ink could tell, would be damn interesting..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter is a little short.   
> I started working on it late and then wasn't able to put more in time..
> 
> Anyway! Next week's chapter will be a bit longer. 
> 
> Spoiler alert: Also, may or may not get to see the Birthday boy in action! :)))


	4. What about the destroyer?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finna fight! Who will win the dramatic wrestling match? 
> 
> You won't know unless you read! Mwaaahahahahaaa c:<

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to let everyone that actually reads this book know, that my updating schedule will be different from now on! With the Easter break over, I'll be updating every second weekend/ every second week.
> 
> It's because I realized I can't keep up with the schedule.. I'm still trying everything out and trying to get comfortable with writing as a hobby, so please understand I have reasons for the change in schedule. 
> 
> Thank you for understanding,  
> ~~Dovey

It had taken the two guardians quite a while to bring Blue to Sci. It was more about the waking Blue up part, than actually getting him to Sci.  
Turns out, Blue is a very heavy sleeper.  
And since Sci wanted to take the tests as fast and as soon as he could, the guardians were forced to wake their friend up when they arrived to Underswap. And as easy as that sounds, waking him up was the hardest part out of everything they've done this week. Maybe this whole month..

Their first few attempts were naive. They were very gentle, and they only went as far as a shoulder shake or a head tap. It was mainly because they didn't know Blue was such a tough person to wake up.. If they knew beforehand, they wouldn't waste their time with gentle taps or... Quiet shoulder shakes.

The rest of their attempts were a bit more creative and admittedly... a little violent. But, in their defense, Blue was a heavy sleeper, as said earlier..! And they didn't physically hurt him, so it was all fine!

For their less creative attempts, hey made loud noises, like banging pans against each other or screaming as loud as they could, shook him more violently, played music on max volume...  
In their more creative ideas, they tried to tickle Blue, they tried to make a dog wake him up, they tried to put sweets and tacos in front of him-- just like those videos of dogs waking up to the smell of their favorite treat--.

Unfortunately, Blue wasn't a dog, and noting else seemed to be working either... The dog just ran away, Blue didn't seem to be ticklish..  
They even thought their friend died at some point, but quickly came to realize that, in fact, he's a monster and would dust if he died. That made their worries disappear and Dream's would could rest calmly for a second.

Until they poured freezing cold water on Blue's neck... Oh god the reaction would make a sadist happy...

The icy water woke Blue up with a loud, startled screech. He yelled at them for a good minute right after he recovered from the freezing, torturing wake-up call, telling them how cold it was and how he'd get them back for that.  
He kept saying he would remember that for the rest of his life while putting on his clothes. Naturally, he wasn't happy about the unplanned shower, and even tho he was still a little drowsy, it didn't stop Blue from spitting out more threats of what he'd do to get them back.  
From doing the same thing as they did, to throwing them into the snow in Snowdin somewhere, all the way to doing something innocent, like giving them cold food to east for over a month.

Well... The two seemed to get a new frenemy on their list just now.. Oopsie..

After the guardians explained the reason for their rough wake-up-call, Blue seemed to relax just a little bit more. Eventually, the two managed to drag Blue through a yellow, sparkling portal over to Sci, who was already waiting at them in his experimenting room.

At first glance, it looked like those cliche hospital horror movies where a doctor goes crazy and does experiments on their patients. And then either the patients go crazy and attack the main character, or the doctor attacks the main character instead.

Either way.. Sci assured all three of them that the syringes, scalpels and pills wouldn't be used on Blue in any shape or form. That calm everyone else in the room a little, that relaxation didn't last very long, tho..  
It all seemed to disappear when Sci retracted his words, and said HE wouldn't ' _intentionally_ _'_ use... The scalpels.  
If they had actual blood, the blood pressure would be at least 200 to 100... Which in translation means one word. Death.  
Tho, he said he'd mostly be using special machines to scan Blue's code and look through it to find any glitches or rips.

He planned on using five machines in total. First, a coding one.  
A machine where he'd look through Blue's code and see if something wasn't how it was suppose to be.  
It would take only a few hours, and Blue was allowed to sleep through the process, since it was just a scan of his code.

Second to be used was a soul machine.  
That one seemed a bit scary.. Sci would look over Blue's soul and try out if it resisted stuff like it was suppose to. He wouldn't use stuff dangerous to him, of course, but he'd use things like other magic or vitamins.  
That process would take a lot longer... Blue would get something injected into his soul and then he'd be free to go for a day or two. Then get back, Sci would check out the results and then repeat the process with a different chemical. He said the things injected into Blue's soul would be harmless, and the results would only be Blue's body rejecting the liquefied magic or absorbing it.. Same with the vitamins. 

Third one was a machine for magic.   
Basically just checks out if his magic is working properly and if it didn't change in any way. They'd find any lack of abilities, or new ones that appeared. That would take only a day or two. The two would basically fight while Blue was hooked up to the machine. Then Sci would check on the results and they'd find out if Blue's magic was like before, if it lessened or if his abilities increased..

Fourth and fifth were both X-Ray-like machines, but Sci didn't explain what they were for... Or Ink just didn't hear him. Either way, Dream seemed to be alright with all of it, so he agreed as well, and they immediately went to prepare the first machine for Blue.

The young skeleton was placed on a hospital bed, Sci opening a capsule-like machine to put Blue in.  
"Just push the bed inside and I'll hook him up to the unit." Sci instructed, and was greeted with a perfect result. Blue got pushed into the capsule and Sci grabbed some weird thicc cables for him.  
He clasped them to the skeleton's laying body with some simple duct tape. Two on each arm, two on each side of his head, one on each thigh, one on each calf and one on each foot.

Sci made sure they were all secure in place.  
Then, he closed the capsule-shaped machinery and went to his computer.  
After he typed in some things, a big TV screen above his computer lit up.  
It showed Blue's whole body, colored in light Blue. The cables were green color and a simple sentence was written above his head. 'Ready to scan'.

With a single press of a button, the whole screen lit up white and then changed to a drawing of a skeleton body. It had same colors as the image before. The skeleton was light blue and the cables were green.

"You can go ahead and sleep if you want, Blue. Like I said earlier, it will take a few hours to complete.. Meanwhile you should either rest or just relax." Sci instructed, nodding to himself at the acknowledging hum Blue gave him in response from his capsule-shaped prison.

After he made sure the machine was working, Sci walked to the the guardians.  
They were sat at a table not too far away from the computer and the TV screen.  
With a coffee in hand, he sat down at the table and yawned.

"Whoa... You seem tired, friend... What's wrong?" Dream smiled gently, worriedly looking at the bags under Sci's eyesockets. "Haven't slept more than four hours a day for like a month... There's a big project I need to finish, and the person that gave me the main responsibilities is constantly stepping on my heels.." Sci responded, rolling his eyes.  
"Who's the one stepping on your heels?? If you want, we can talk some sense into them." But instead of answering Ink's question, Sci sipped on his coffee.

After seeing he wouldn't get an answer, Ink tried a different question. " What's the project about..? We could help you with it if you tell us." Although he got a response, it wasn't one of those Ink wanted to hear.  
"Don't worry about it.. You wouldn't really be able to help me even if I told you. Your morals wouldn't let you.." Sighing, the skeleton sipped on his coffee again.

"Why do you say that? You aren't doing something bad that would get you in trouble, are you?" Dream's suspicious stare hardened at Sci's lack of response. And it even worsened when the said skeleton changed the subject..  
"Anyway... Got any tips on what happened to Underswap?" Sci asked calmly, his body oddly relaxed in comparison to his emotions. Dream could sense the nervousness and anxiety that basically radiated off of Sci. Something wasn't right.. Sci was hiding something.. And he was scared the secret would come out...

"What do you mean..?" Ink hummed, his eye lights in the shapes of a question mark and an hourglass. "I mean exactly what I said. I wanna place bets on what happened. When we figure it out, I wanna see who guessed right and how..  
Well? What do you think happened? Personally, I think it's just something in either the Au's, human's or Blue's code. Maybe a glitch or a fracture in their code that made the timeline reset on itself." Sci explained, looking over at Dream. When his gaze traced the bright skeleton's features, he could tell Sci became more nervous. Huh...

"I think Error is behind it.. He's been quiet these past few months. I'm sure he's been preparing to do this for a very long time .. What about you, Ink?" Both turned to the artist in synch. "I don't think it was Error. Maybe the creator of Blue's AU decided it should reset. Or the Multiverse thought of it as a dangerous timeline and forced a reset on it.." Ink theorised.  
"But why would the Multiverse consider it as a dangerous timeline..?" Dream raised a browbone, still seeming to stand his opinion and think Ink was saying nonsense.. "Maybe the lack of resets..? I dunno.."

"I'll ask Blue what he thinks when the scan is done... Tho... we all seemed to guess different things. How interesting.." Sci chuckled, slumping down against the chair and finishing the kofeín filled drink.

"What about the winner and the losers?" Dream questioned quietly. He was quite curious.  
"Hm?" Sci hummed, placing the coffee mug on the table before swallowing his last bit of coffee.  
Sighing, Dream continued his questioning."I mean.. You said you want to know who gets it right, but why?"

"Because I'm curious. Maybe we can make it a game.. Like... The winner GETS something from the losers or something.  
Mainly it was just because of curiosity tho, nothing else.."  
Sci's response didn't seem to satisfy Dream. He could sense the tension in Sci's emotions. He'd talk to Ink about it after Blue finishes for today and all three of them go home.. Sci is planning something and it doesn't seem to be anything good...

While the three were talking about what could've gone wrong in Underswap to cause such an occurrence to happen, the oh so familiar pain in Ink's chest appeared out of nowhere.  
Ink took notice of it as soon as it appeared, and instead of continuing their conversation, he stopped it and stood up from the table.   
"Error's attacking Underswap..!" He blurted out of nowhere, quick to prepare himself for a fight.  
On that statement, Dream frowned and stood up. "I knew Error was behind all this! He must be trying to finish the job! Let's go, before he does even more damage!"

Dream was about to open a portal, but Ink stopped him before he could. "No! I'm gonna go alone... I need to get answers out of him, and if he's behind all this, then he's far more powerful than we've thought... And I don't want him to hurt more people than is necessary."  
One look at Dream, and Ink could tell he wasn't fond of that idea.. So that's why he tried to bring up other arguments and tried a different approach..  
"I will come back if I die, but you don't have that power, Dream.. Please, stay here and look after the others. After all, If Error decides to destroy this universe next, it needs someone to protect them until I arrive.."

Reluctantly, Dream agreed. He sat back down and just stared worriedly at the inky portal his best friend made. It seemed too dangerous for Ink to go alone, if Error had the ability to corrupt universe codes to the point of resetting them, Ink wouldn't stand a chance .. But Ink was right. He was immortal, and Dream was not..  
If Dream dies, he may not come back. His universe doesn't have timelines, no possibilities of resetting, so it would be way harder to bring him back.  
Ink, on the other hand, was immortal. He could die, yes, but he'd always come back. Sometimes it took a week, sometimes two... It really depended on the situation the multiverse was in.

Of course, Ink didn't die a lot, but he did die a couple of times in the past for them to figure out how long the resurrection took.

Other people would think of immortality as a gift, but Dream noticed Ink thought about it as more of a curse, than anything.. It worried him a little. Who knows what Ink will experiment with next, after he's done figuring out all of his paints..? Maybe experimenting how far he could go until his body gave out and he'd die in different ways..?  
Even just the thought sent shivers down Dream's spine. Err... He didn't want to even think about all the possibilities..

After Ink left, Sci decided to continue the conversation. Now, tho, it was more about Blue, Error and what's about to happen in Underswap... He could tell even Sci was worried too...

_**\--------------------------------------** _

In Underswap, Ink figured out where The Destroyer was almost instantly.  
I mean... It wasn't hard.  
All the fallen trees, destroyed buildings and people running away in the same direction pointed out exactly where the other was. Ink was easily able to pinpoint Error's exact location, but the murderer wasn't really hiding, so it didn't seem to matter that much.

Everyone stared at Ink as if he was crazy when he started running in the opposite way, towards the murderer, and not away from him. It didn't affect him, however. Ink was used to people being confused whenever he tried to go towards Error, and not cower somewhere and hope the dark skeleton wouldn't find him.  
Although it was always an option, fighting Error was basically his job, so Ink couldn't just run away whenever he pleased. He couldn't hide with the residents, he couldn't afford being a coward. He had to defend, fight if necessary.

His feet crunched down on the snow, his breath creating a small cloud that dissapeared after a while. He huffed, puffed, the snow slowing him down more than he wanted it to. He wasn't expecting the snowm to be so exhausting to walkj through...  
But now..

Speaking of the devilish skeleton, he seemed to be currently towering over a short bunny monster. The poor resident was shaking, her ears were slumped and body was pressed against the stump of a broken down tree. She was obviously terrified.. Poor gal... No worries tho, innocent resident!  
Ink wouldn't let anything happen to her! He was the protector of universes, after all! His duty was to protect, look after and fight for the AU's! That included protecting the innocent inhabitants!

That's why, when Error was about to pierce through her chest mercilessly, Ink quickly jumped in front of her. "Run!"  
He yelled as his brush clanked against the sharp bone with a loud thump. The bunny sqealed and immediately scrambled up to her feet and ran off. A short staring contest took place after that, the two of them just observing each other for a second, and testing out who would strike first.  
Ink couldn't help the chuckle that rumbled out of his chest at Error's frustrated growl. Error didn't seem to like the staring contest, nor Ink's presence in general.  
"You?! What the hell are YOU doing here?!" But instead of answering, Ink pushed Error back. He got into a defensive stance and frowned at the question.  
"What am _I_ doing here? That's what I should be asking you! You haven't visited Underswap in _decade_ s and now, suddenly you go ham on it? That's not like you, Error!" He dodged a bone attack, shuffling from one side of the street to another. "What do you know about what I am and what I'm not! You don't know anything about me, imbecile !"

While he was talking, Ink tried to lead him away from all the people, dodging the attacks and jumping away in patterns that would force Error to move in his direction. He was relying on Error's focus, thinking he would focus on the fight and not on where they were going.. But Error could tell. He saw right trough Ink's intentions.  
Ink's f _irst_ _mistake_ _._

When Ink was prepared to dodge another attack, Error smirked, turned away from him and started attacking another building. He didn't follow the trap and instead ignored the somewhat pacifistic skeleton.  
Confusion was written over the shorter skeleton shole face right after that. Error usually focused on killing him whenever they met, not once did he ignore Ink when he wasn't defenceless. He was too cautious for that... So why..?  
Did Error know what happened here? Oh! Right, he wanted to get some answers out of him anyway.  
Either way, Ink hated being ignored, so since Error made the mistake of not paying attention to him, Ink would've be twice as annoying today!

"Error!"Ink yelled, already expecting the response that came right after it. "Fuck off!" The house broke down, the family of monsters living there running off in the same direction as everyone else. He went to chase them down, but stopped in his racks at his enemy's first question.  
"What are you doing?" Ink completely ignored the insult, continuing the conversation. "The hell does it look like?? I'm doing my job, dumbass! Destroying these anomalies!" Error spat, sending him a quick glare before going back to work and destroying another house. This time, it was the bro's house. Ooooo Blue will be _furious_ _._

"Anomalies? A new nickname? I'll take that as a sign of progress!" The artist chirped, jumping up and punching Error's bone attack out of his steady hand. Maybe Ink was reading into it too much, but he knew Error called the AU's strictly abominations, not anomalies. Ah, whatever.. Maybe he just slipped up.

"It's not a new nickname, idiot! This whole place is an anomaly!" Ah... Never mind.  
He spat back, sending a few punches and kicks at Ink in response.  
The guardian swiftly moved away from most of them, the last two catching him by surprise and sending him on the ground.

Error tried to take the opportunity to attack, but Ink was back on his feet soon right after he fell. To Error, Ink seemed to become a blur from then on, always in a different place. It confused him.   
His eyesight wasn't the best, and since Ink didn't stop even for a second, glitches slowly started to overtake his eyes from the amount of quick motion Ink produced. The environment became blurry, Ink became just a small smudge and the running monsters just seemed like pixels.. Now this fight would be interesting. For both participants.

Bones spread across the battlefield like pieces of trash in nature, blasters appearing one by one.  
If Ink wanted some answers, he'd need to tire Error out first! Otherwise he wouldn't answer anything.  
Error had the tendency to become more genuine and willing after a long fight, actually seeming to cooperate and be more friendly. But there was no way he would answer the same in his full stamina, so Ink had to act fast and affectively.

He dodged the blasters one by one, jumping over the bones as if it were an acrobatic act..  
And when Error became frustrated enough and tried to tie him up like old times, Ink ran around like a mouse trying to escape from a cat, slipping from his grasp each time he got too close. Now that he was fully focused on the fight, Ink could finally continue his plan..!

Well... Here we go!  
...  
Bone attacks, ink attacks, blasters, strings... Everything went to action.  
Error went all out, but since he couldn't see well at the moment, the attacks went all different directions.  
And Ink would've been in an advantage, if it weren't for the other monsters... He'd constantly have to block the attacks from killing the innocent, his focus switching from the people, to the fight. It wasn't smart to do that.. It was very risky. If Error's vision suddenly came back, he'd see Ink's weak point and take advantage of it right then and there..

It was hard, until something happened. Papyrus, Alphys and the other guards were at the scene soon after the fight started.  
The guards got their people to safety, and Alphys with Papyrus helped Ink in the fight.

Unfortunately, Alphys wasn't that swift at dodging, and got a lot of health down pretty quickly. Papyrus, although pretty good at dodging, wasn't quick enough to place attacks along the dodging.. It was obvious he wasn't that skilled at fighting, especially against the toughly trained destroyer. They were out of his league, and if Error's vision wasn't acting up right now, they'd surely be dead...  
That was normal, however. Error was the god of destruction, Ink the protector of the Multiverse.. These two were used to each other's attacks, so it was a piece of cake to fight normal AU inhabitants off.  
Attacking other gods was a different story, of course..

Some gods were strong enough to put both of them down if they really wanted to, and some were the exact opposite.

Good examples were Reaper, the god of Death, and Alphys, the god of Knowledge.  
Reaper was a tough fighter, and if he wanted to, he'd be able to win. Maybe not if the two of them worked together, but it would still be a good and long fight.   
Alphys on the other hand, was physically very weak. And although she was very smart, she wouldn't stand much of a chance alone. Just like Underswap's Alphys and Papyrus.

But right now, Ink was helping them, so they didn't need to worry about failing miserably. At least for the time being...

Axes, more bones, more blasters, more ink... The battlefield was a mess.  
When they finally managed to get Error wounded, his vision started to come back. For the most part, Ink didn't seem to notice, other than seeing the attacks become more confident and coordinated, along with the glitches around Error's whole body lessening with each passing minute.

 ** _" G_** A ** _a-AhHaH-H_** AHA ** _h-HAHAHAhah-HaHAHA_** H ** _aH_** a ** _HAHAHA!!!"_**  
Error's broken up, glitchy laugh pierced through the chilly air like butter, the psychotic individual summoning three walls of bone attacks behind his back. Each of them of a different volume. From the snowy floor, to the crumbly top of the underground, the sharp bones all pointed at the guardian and the two brave fighters.  
He didn't even spare them from his crazed look, too focused on the fight to spasre them now..  
...

It looked like a serial killer expression. The one you'd see right before dying.  
"Yo ** _U_** **AL** ** _L_** ** _T_** _hI_ _n_ _k_ YoU' **R** E so-O CL **e** **VER** **,** ** _HUH_**!?!??  
BU ** _t_** ALL tHRE _e_ OF Y ** _o_** U ARE **JUs-** ST NAI **VE-** E! YoU ' **r** **E-** E ALL  
**_S_** ** _O_**  
**_S_** ** _T_** ** _U_** ** _P_** ** _ID-- -_** ** _I_** ** _D_** _ **! ! ¡!¡¡**_  
_**HaHAHA**_ _H_ _ **AHAH-**_ _h--_ _ **Hhah-HahH--HahHAH--H-HAHh-ah!!!**_  
_**Well**_ _ **then**_ _ **...**_  
_**Let'**_ s dance!! _ **' '**_

The statement sent shivers down their backs, sweat starting to run down Alphys's forehead.  
It wasn't just because of the voice that changed pitches, glitched and broke apart with each word. No... It was also because of the stumbling the destroyer preformed when he stepped from one leg to the other. It looked like he was drunk.. It just added to his creepy, bloody figure..  
But the biggest reason for the sweat on the warrior's forehead was what the statement was about..

Error acted as if destroying Underswap was necessary. Like they were stupid for not helping him and going against him instead.  
As if protecting the people was their death sentence, and the Multiverse would devour them for it.

After Error stopped his crazy outburst, the three boney walls were all sent straight at the three unprepared victims.  
Alphys died almost instantly, not quick enough to move away from the fifteen attacks that stabbed cleanly through her. Her body collapsed to the ground and her soul floated up above her for a moment. Then, both the soul and the body turned to dust and flew away with the wind.

Papyrus nearly didn't survive as well. He managed to dodge the first wall, but when the bones from the second one nearly cut through his ribcage, he teleported to safety. Leaving Ink alone.

Ink got badly wounded in the second wall. His Brush got lost in the endless barrier of bones and one of his arms flew away with it.   
A bone was sticking out of his chest, and if he had a soul, he'd be dust a long time ago.

The third wall was a walk in a garden compared to the other two. It was visible Error didn't expect anyone to survive the two barriers before it.  
He underestimated Ink...  
_Error's_ _first_ _mistake_ _._

As soon as the bones were all stuck in the ground, Ink charged at Error.  
It might've seemed like Ink would be weaker after his brush was gone, but in reality, it was the opposite. He was faster, way more swift, more focused, and had way less weight to carry.  
With the way Error was panting, Ink could easily tell he put most of his energy into the wall attack. Even Error had his limits. His energy was almost out, so Ink took the opportunity to knock him off his feet with a simple tackle, and start to wrestle him instead.

He was trying something new, a new attack that Error hasn't encountered before. But Ink overestimated himself and underestimated Error. He thought Error was very tired already, and believed the little strength he had in his arms and legs would be enough to win the fight. But instead of the wrestling ending like Ink assumed it would, Error giving up and being trapped for questioning, it went pretty badly.  
Error realized what Ink was trying to do and quickly kicked him in the stomach, sending him tumbling over on the ground.  
He didn't think things through enough.  
_Ink's_ _second_ _mistake_ _._

What came after it was just more fighting. Both skeletons were quite tired, so their fighting was a little more sloppy...  
Ink getting out with just a few inky scratches, and Error... Well... Error probably got a concussion.

While the two were fighting, Ink managed to find his gigantic brush somewhere up in a chimney and attack Error with it. When Error tried to block the brush with bone attacks, he slipped on the wet, bloody snow and flew down on the floor.. That caused him to miss the defence and Ink's brush came down right on his skull.

The place went completely silent, the cracking of Error's skull silencing every sound.  
Error's body went limp under the one standing above him, and when Ink noticed what happened, it was already too late. The hole that took up nearly half of Error's skull couldn't be taken back, nor could the spiderweb crack on the rest of his skull.  
_That_ _was_ _Error's_ _second and_ _last_ _mistake_ _..._

Ink, horrified due to his paints, quickly threw away the brush that HURT Error and crouched down next to the fallen destroyer.  
"Oh.. Fuck... Error! I'm so sorry ..!"  
He panicked at the alarming amount of bone marrow pilling up on the ground. That was A LOT of quick marrow loss..  
Ink quickly pulled out his fixing paint and a small brush.

The two might've been enemies, but Ink wouldn't willingly let _anyone_ die on his watch..

He tried painting over the hole, but only got as far as covering half of it, when Error started trying to push him away.  
"Stay... The fuck away from me..!" He slurred, pushing him away with his foot.  
"Error, I'm healing you, please stay still.." Ink rolled his eyes, getting back right after and trying to continue his healing.  
The sight that followed, was almost pitiful.  
Error seemed to listen to him. He was curled up, arms tucked over his head defensively. He looked so vulnerable..  
The lingering scent of guilt spread over Ink's body like a plague. It made his expression drop.. So much for getting answers out of him.. Great, Ink, just great!

His thoughts of helping Error were soon to dissapear as a portal opened not too far away, a bunch of skeletons flying through it and landing on the snowy, bloody ground.  
It was Nightmare's gang... Killer, Horror, Dust... And Cross..  
Behind them, their leader emerged from the portal not long after. He must've sensed Error's emotions and came to help.  
Their relationship was weird, Ink had to admit. It didn't seem like Error and Nightmare were friends, but they helped each other when necessary.. Maybe they made a deal..? Hm.. He'd need to figure out later.

Now... He needed to get out of here. Preferably alive... And he'd question Error next time they meet... Hopefully he'll be alright.


	5. Lack of feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's another fight for half of the chapter. Sorry :'/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)  
> Stay safe  
> Ily all

A second performance of life and death spread out in the Snowdin of Underswap.  
This time, in front of the local bar called Muffet's. Bone marrow and attacks were scattered across the ground like paint on a pure, white canvas.  
Nightmare's black tar tho, stained it like a demon's touch on an angel's skin. The sludge soaked into the snow, corrupting it and spreading on about like watercolor. Like a piece of art. An unholy piece of art, to say the least...

Although both sides were wounded...  
Both sides put up a good fight as well.  
Neither of them were planning on backing down... At least not yet.  
Rivals were keeping their stance, their moves were calculated and well thought out.

The artist danced around the tentacles that speared into the battleground, moving out of the way of a few flying knives that tried to take his life in the process. A few cut his clothes, but that was the least of his worries right now. The priority was staying alive and protecting the now vulnerable universe..  
So he danced. He moved along as if playing a scripted act, a simple entertainment in the big show. A mere puppet controlled by a puppeteer.

It kind of looked like in the middle of a Ballet show, where they carefully stepped between all the difficult obstacles one by one until they were done with their act and finally able to rest.  
Unfortunately, Ink couldn't rest. This AU depended on him at the moment, and he was absolutely not gonna let it down!  
But Nightmare and his work slaves could tell the opposing was getting tired. 

Ink was visibly slower and getting worse every passing minute... Seems like his injuries took a toll on him after all. He should stop this fight and get healed, he thought..  
It shouldn't be a problem.. The Nightmares only seemed to be interested in the fight, not the AU itself.. It was possible the fear Error caused by his appearance was enough for Nightmare and he wasn't all that invested in it by now..  
Considering all that, it should be fine if the artist left the fight.

After all, when he's healed, it'll be easier to protect others from them..  
It would be worth the risk.  
...  
Getting out of here would be a different impediment, tho..  
His brush was lost while he was fighting Horror, the most feral of the small team.. It was hard enough to fight him as it was, but when his brush was gone, he wasn't able to defend himself from the axe that well. He got his ribcage cut up several times.. A few ribs were most likely missing, and _THAT_ was from just fighting Horror alone..! When the others joined in, it became a hell for the artist. He saw his brush landing somewhere in the collapsing pub, but he couldn't get there for the life of him!

The Nightmare's obviously knew Ink teleported using his brush, so they tried to keep him away from it. Naturally, they also didn't spare him from _MANY_ cuts, bruises or broken bones they could cause him. Somehow tho, the guardian managed to get away far enough to start dealing with less close range attacks.

That wasn't very helpful in the long run tho..  
The brush seemed to land on the roof of the bar, but The Nightmares were way too close to Muffet's for him to sneak past and grab his Brush without them playing their cards against him.  
He'd need to lure them away like he tried doing with Error.... Wait... Speaking of the glitchy skeleton... Where was he? He seemed to dissapear sometime during the fight..  
Did one of the members take him somewhere? But why would they do that..?  
Dust and Cross seemed to be missing.. Maybe they took Error to the mansion to imprison him or something... Only lord knows what was happening there..  
But that was fine. He'd need to outsmart less enemies that way.  
And Ink certainly didn't miss the skeleton's bone attacks in the slightest.. Or Cross' weird ..sword-knife-spear thing..  
The other Nightmares were already difficult as they were right now... With his injuries anyway..

In a pathetic attempt to bait his opponents away, Ink turned his back to them and ran off towards the ruins.  
Stupidly enough, Horror and Killer followed, even after their boss told them not to. And disapprovingly, Nightmare trailed down the paths, turns and puzzles after the other three as well. Seemingly pissed off.  
Ink couldn't tell if Nightmare was going to kill him, or his own employees. He seemed angry either way...

....

Lord... They were like wild _predators_ _._ Horror with his crazed expression, and Killer with his empty eyesockets.  
The mere thought of what would happen to Ink if they caught up was unsettling enough.. Now their appearance added to the terrifying experience. Great...

They looked like _animals_ ..  
Honestly..? He wasn't surprised that people's fight or flight instinct kicks in whenever they see the two together.  
And right now, they didn't even have Dust with them!

The artist ran. He ran and ran until he reached the big, purple door..  
When the two Nightmares arrived after him- Nightmare himself not too far-, Ink threw a bottle of black paint on the ground in front of him.  
Before the skeletons could attack, he jumped in...  
...  
..  
...  
And appeared back at Gril-- Muffet's..  
He grimaced at the bloody ground. Yes. He just spawned from his own blood. Just like his puke, Ink's blood was made of ink.. Well... His 'blood' consisted of mostly ink, and a little bit of bone marrow, but it was very similar to his barf, interestingly..  
Certainly disgusting.. . . But quite useful.  
One way or another..  
...

The guardian turned to Muffet's... Or what remained of the small tavern and searched for any signs of his Broomy.  
His gaze trailed around and around... Through the empty bar, to the half destroyed walls, to the roof...  
....  
He became worried, but then his gaze drifted over a few fallen bricks in the back of the ruined building.  
There, displayed like a magical weapon a hero could use, was Ink's brush.  
Overwhelmed with what Ink believed was joy, he started making his way towards his friend. "Broomy! Stars, I thought I lost you for a second there... I almost got worried!" He panted, stepping over a few rocks and entering the once welcoming structure.

When there, he swam through the sea of chairs, ruined tables and broken glass. His first priority was his brush.. He had to get it... The artist didn't care if he got cut by the sharp glass, or if he got a rock fallen over him.  
He wouldn't be able to protect himself good enough without it. He wouldn't even be able to go home without it! He _needed_ it.

As he got closer and closer, the air seemed to thicken... The chilly wind punched into his figure, as if trying to push him away and the atmosphere went weirdly quiet.. Ink didn't think much of it tho, and continued on his way.  
It proved he should've thought twice about it, because when he got too close, a figure jumped in front of him. The hooded skeleton blocked his path and prevented him from getting to his way out of here.

Ink frowned, stepping back.

The one that made the barrier between him and his brush, was Dust. A murderer that killed his whole universe to 'protect them'. To save them from the burden of living.  
He had a good intention, but the idea was.... Insane.

Dust's haunting appearance only complimented his crazy past.  
He left his universe sickly empty... By now, it was probably destroyed as well.. Since the human stopped resetting, the monsters are dead, and there are no characters left, the Multiverse just got rid of it after Nightmare took Dust away.  
I mean... It was just using up space that could be used for new AUs anyway..  
So Fate is fate I guess..

With that said, the murderer was quite a strong opponent... It would be hard getting through him.  
Damnit... He should've thought about it beforehand.  
Of course they wouldn't chase after him like idiots if they didn't have the area covered! What was he thinking??  
He needs a plan... And he needs it _now_ _._..

Ink slid to the left, avoiding a bloody bone attack. His eyes caught onto his enemy's crazed smile and immediately overwhelmed him.  
Dust was planning something. Must've been preparing for this the entire time the gang was fighting Ink.  
Or this was all staged and that's why The Nightmares let him lure them away... He should've expected this. But he didn't, so he needed to improvise.

The unfocused skeleton seemed to be too invented in his thoughts to notice Dust attacking again.  
He was swiftly kicked into a wall, grunting at the rough impact he made with it. Ink tried to quickly get up, but switched his attention to Dust as he spoke.  
"What's that face for, guardian? Did you not expect me to be here as well?" His raspy laugh sent chills down the spine of the opponent. "Were your _really_ that naive to believe we would just let you get away so easily?? No! Hell no!  
We couldn't pass an opportunity like this...!" He spawned a bone attack in his hand, launching at him.

Startled, Ink jumped to the side, avoiding Dust's attack.  
Fortunately for Ink, Dust's weapon got stuck in the brick wall that was once pressed on by Ink's back.

Meanwhile Dust attempted to pull it out, the artist took the opportunity and got up to his feet.  
He booked it for his brush, trying to get to it as fast as possible. Dust on the other hand, abandoned the now stuck bone attack and teleported behind Ink.  
The murderer was unlkucky tho. Ink managed to get close enough to his brush before the other launched at him again and instead of falling down with a bone stuck in his skull, Ink turned around and whacked Dust's chest.

The impact sent him flying a few feet away, particles of dust and small rocks flying all into different directions.  
By then, the other Nightmares were at the scene.  
So that was why Ink did not waste a single moment and created a portal, spiraling down it's abyss.

...

...

...

Ink appeared in his house. He fell down from the portal, immediately collapsing on the ground from exhaustion. On his knees, the artist looked around his bedroom and sighed in relief. Thank the stars he got away. He could've gotten killed back there! Should be more careful next time..

Glad he's home, Ink smiled and grabbed his scarf.  
Miraculously, it only had a few small tears in it, which he'd fix up after healing himself.  
Grabbing one of his pencils he had on his vial stash, he documented everything he remembered. Starting from Error's head getting smashed and ending at Dust jumping at him when he didn't expect it.

When he was done, he checked his previous notes from this patrol. In bold, red lettering, he found a presumably important message. 'Text Dream after ur done with Underswap'. Why? He didn't know... But if his notes told him to do that, he would. He trusted his notes.

Picking up his phone from his pocket, Ink opened up messages and scrolled down to Dream's name. There, he started typing. Nothing too fancy, nothing too long. Just a short message, that read:' _Just_ _finished_ _fighting_ _ur_ _brother_ _._ _At_ _my_ _house_ _rn_ '.  
And then, with a single click, the text was sent to Dream.

In just a few minutes, the skeleton couldn't help but chuckle when he heard Dream already rummaging through the house. The distinctive sound of Dream's worried grumbles enough of a clue for him to assume who it was.  
With what little strength remained within him, Ink stood up and walked to his nightstand where he kept his healing paint. Opening the wooden drawer and grabbing some healing paint, a brush appeared in his hand.

Ink unscrewed the clear vial and read the note on it.  
It consisted of portions. How much of it he should put on big wounds, small cuts, to other people, etc..  
He just shrugged it off, putting a decent amount of paint on the brush before running it over his cut up leg. The portions weren't all that important. Unless, of course, he was healing someone else. All the cuts he went over started patching up afterwards.

The quiet footsteps getting closer to his room made him stop and look over at the door.  
"Ink...?" Was the quiet question. "Yep, I'm here, Dream." Was what he chose to respond with.  
Then came a relieved sight, and a figure stepped into view.

Dream was standing in the doorway, a small smile on his face. "So you _are_ here... I got worried you passed out somewhere or teleported into the wrong house when I did not see you downstairs.." Dream admitted.

Ink blinked. "Okay first off... You know you could've just called my name from downstairs and found my _exact_ location in an instant, right?" He took a deep breath.  
"And second.. Teleported into the wrong house?" Ink repeated. "Why would I do that?"  
Earning an unamused look from Dream, he snickered.

"First, shush... And second.. I've known you long enough to see you beat up in your room just because you accidentally portaled into a random house in some AU before..!"  
"Oh come on, Dream! That was only _one_ time!" Ink whined, glazing the healing paint over his other leg.  
"That happened several times, Ink! _Several_ times!" The keeper of dreams argued, putting a hand on his hip and snickering.

"Oh whatever!" Ink dismissed it, chuckling himself, before continuing his healing process. The brush patched up a few more wounds before the subject was changed.  
"Anyway... Looks like it didn't go so well, huh..?" Dream walked over, sitting down opposite of the artist.  
"Yyyyeah.... I couldn't even ask a lot of questions. I think I got like... One or two, but even then, he did not answer properly. In my defence tho, Error's condition is way worse than mine.." He coughed awkwardly.  
Oh..? Now that intrigued Dream. He raised his brow curiously.  
Ink was mostly a pacifist, so it was not a lot of times where he was caught fighting someone like that... He mostly just dodged... That's why the keeper of dreams was surprised..

"Really..? What happened?"  
Ink's brows furrowed up. He wasn't really sure... He got to document this whole event after quite a long period of time and his memory of it was hazy.. He could only recall Error slipping on the snow, then the memory cut, and then it started again with Error laying on the ground, skull open, and Ink standing over him not sure what to do.

"I... Can't recall the details, but I remember seeing Error slipping on snow and then.... His skull got cracked open. I don't remember how, but I was 'panicking' afterwards..? So maybe it wasn't my fault??" Even Ink was questioning himself at this point. He couldn't remember most of the event before Nightmare and his guys came, so maybe Error fell down onto a rock? Ink honestly didn't know... But he'd like to think it wasn't his fault, so until someone proves him wrong, that's his story..

"Oh.." Dream mumbled, thoughtfully looking over Ink's shoulder. "Yeah... So that happened. Then Nightmare and the others came and another fight broke out! Cross must've dragged Error somewhere, because the two disappeared somewhere after a while.." He paused for a second.  
What happened after that....? Oh, wait!

"Then Broomy was thrown onto the ruined building of Muffet's! And then I ran off and we had this small moment of hide and _SEEK_ in the woods! It would've been fun... If it weren't for the knives, tentacles or bones thrown my way whenever one of them found me.." Another small pause.

"Anyway!  
Then I baited them all the way to the big door that separates the area from the ruins. When they thought they finally got me, I teleported back to Muffet's and went to get my brush. But then I got attacked by Dust! I thought he was helping Cross with Glitchy, but apparently they thought ahead and had Dust 'guard' Broomy or whatever.. Still, I got him back and then got home!"  
He smirked triumphantly, proud of himself for remembering all of that.  
On the opposite end, Dream just coughed awkwardly. Although Ink paused occasionally, he was still talking way too fast, and the poor listener had no time to actually understand everything that came out of his mouth. Ink must've got way too excited at the fact he could remember all that and wanted to get it out before he forgets everything...

Dream got that. He was happy for his friend, but.... He didn't properly understand a damn thing.. Uuh.. Oopsie..

Supporting him, Dream shook his heads and acted as if he knew _just_ what Ink meant. "Oh, wow... That was quite an eventful visit to Underswap, wasn't it?" He chuckled quietly.  
"Damn right it was! I think someone died too... Was it Undyne? Or was it a guard..? Hmmm... I dunno." Ink shrugged, not really invested in that thought.

"Darn... That's a lot. How much damage was done to Underswap?"  
That... Was a scary question.  
"Uuuh.... How can I put it into words.... Uuh...  
Pretty much the whole Snowdin looks like it's been run over by a bulldozer." Ink shrugged and looked at the ground awkwardly.

Not surprised from the answer, Dream cleared his throat.  
"By the way... How can you be so calm about it?" The sparkly skeleton continued on. "Calm about what? The Au being destroyed?" Ink questioned, his eyelights changing into literal question marks.  
"No... I meant your condition. You're all bloody and hurt! Is it not painful? You seem way too calm and neutral about the fact that one of your arms is broken!"

Oh....  
Ink didn't notice his broken arm.. Weird.. He may not have a soul or emotions, but that doesn't mean he can't feel pain! There could only be two answers as to how this could happen.   
And with one look at his paint vial stash that hung across his chest... His suspicion seemed to be correct.  
His paints were almost out.  
That was quite strange tho... He didn't remember using up so much paint... Especially so much red and magenta. He's only used magenta once, and ever since then he only kept it on his stash _TO_ complete the rainbow.  
Similarly with red. He used it strictly when a fight was too hard to beat. It would've been a great idea to drink it in the fight with the gang today, but in his defence, Ink didn't even have time to think properly. He had to put 100% of his focus into the fight, or it would end up like when he was facing Dust..

With that in mind, Ink didn't remember drinking that much color in... Quite a while.. His paint lasted for a long time, and when it's effects finally started wearing off, even a tiny sip would get him back to normal. So why was it gone all of a sudden...?

Never mind... His torn up memory probably had to do with that.. He'll just heal and then restock his paint..

"Well... It looks like I'm running out of paint.. That's most likely why. I'll heal and then refill them. It shouldn't take that long, so I'll be back to normal in no time." Ink scratched the back of his head, still a little puzzled as to _why_ _the_ _magenta_ _paint_ was gone..

"Oh, right! I forgot that happens." The other nodded, watching as Ink delicately brushed over his other arm before putting the brush and paint aside.  
Politely, Dream looked away when Ink started pulling off his scarf.  
First, the scarf and stash was pulled off and then his shirt(s?).  
Surprisingly, although Ink thought he'd have quite a few ribs broken or completely missing, it turned out only three were severely broken. A few more were bruised from kicks or pushes, but otherwise it wasn't that bad.

He quickly patched up the broken ones and healed the bruises, and then put all the clothing back on.  
"Thanks..." He nodded, appreciating what Dream did.  
"No problem.. You got anything else broken?" The other questioned, turning back to the artisan. "Doesn't feel like it! I mean... I'll truly find out after I gulp down my paint " Ink shrugged, standing up and going over to his closet.

Dream stayed sitting down on the ground, his gaze drifting across the room as if it was some kind of criptic piece of art. I mean... That depiction wasn't wrong..  
The whole room was either covered in sticky notes of different colors, or had some sort of art on it. The bed being an exception..

The walls had all sorts of sticky notes on it, sometimes creating unique patterns or smiley faces.  
The nightstand had about twenty sticky notes on it. There was still free space, but it was only enough for a small lamp and one or two mugs.  
Wardrobes and drawers were similar, tho they were a little emptier.

All in all, Ink's room was definitely something different. Unique, but very strange. Sad even. What a mess...

When he heard shuffling from Ink's direction, Dream turned back, only to see Ink closing some kind of door and coming out of the closet with full, freshly refilled paint vials.  
And Dream?  
Dream didn't question it.  
Yes, he knew his friend had a secret space in his closet. It was used for his paints, as far as he knew.  
Ink was very secretive about where his paints come from, how he refills them and how he stores them. Dream wasn't going to question it tho. It wasn't his business and he wasn't about to just break into someone's privacy to _KNOW_ the answer.

"Welp! Doesn't seem like I have any more scratches, broken bones or anything." Ink smirked, feeling much better now that his vials were full again.  
"Well then, we should go visit Sci. Blue was almost done with his test when I left to get you, so he should be awake by now and ready to go home.." Dream smiled, finally standing up and clapping his hands together.  
"We should get him to Underswap before it resets, if we don't want any more problems.." He suggested.

Ink perked up "ooh! Yes, we should get him there right away. It could reset at any moment." He grabbed his Broomy and grinned.  
A hand pressed against his shoulder. Dream's, to be exact.  
"Wait, hold on... I think you're forgetting something, friend." Dream frowned. "What?" Confused, Ink blinked.

Dream only motioned at his bloody, torn up clothes and his inky bones. Oh... Right.. Yeah, he should clean himself up. Blue and Sci will jump out of their bones if they see him like this.

"Yeah.. I should really shower, huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so... I'm encountering a little bit of a writer and art block..
> 
> I'm getting through it pretty nicely but I'm still not 100% proud of this chapter.  
> This one was also pretty boring to write, since I'm saving up the sweet sweet plot starter to a few chapters ahead.  
> Nonetheless, I still enjoyed writing it, so it's fine I guess? 
> 
> Have a nice day/night! 
> 
> ~Dovey


	6. Just a few more!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue starts his second test.

Ten minutes after Ink left, Dream started to get worried.

 _FOR_ a while, he's been hearing some ruckus from the bathroom, and even tho it was probably just Ink being Ink, the guardian of dreams has still gotten a little concerned.  
Ink could be a very clumsy person at times, so it was totally possible for him to trip, fall and crack his skull open on even the safest floor in the Multiverse.  
Although he is basically immortal, he comes back to life after a certain period of time. That's why Ink tried to stay alive, unless dying was apart of the plan.  
Dying because he tripped, was definitely not apart of their plan.  
Plus... Quite a lot of people could take advantage of the newly found opportunity.  
Error, Nightmare... Those were only two of their enemies, both of _WHICH_ would find a big advantage in the absent Protector.

And even if for some forbidden reason _THEY_ didn't, the guardians still needed to find out the reason for the sudden reset of Underswap.  
The human didn't seem to have any doing in it, tho.. So that made it an even bigger mystery that would occupy them for a long time..  
Involved or not, Ink and Dream still needed to find out if it is some sort of threat to the Multiverse.

Either way, Ink dying any time soon, could only result in something bad.. And Dream wasn't really keen on that idea.

There were about three times Dream knocked on the bathroom door, thankfully hearing Ink's voice all three times.

Now that he thought about it, Dream guessed Ink hasn't even started actually showering yet. He probably walked in there, forgot _why_ he went there, got distracted, realized he was in the bathroom and got confused as to why he was there again, got distracted again and then repeated everything for the past ten minutes. But even tho Dream reminded him every time he was there, Ink didn't seem to make any progress.  
Why? Dream wasn't sure. Surely it wasn't difficult for him to just get into the bathtub and clean himself!

Unfortunately, it seemed like for Ink, it was. Dream has been sitting in his room for quite some time now, and it didn't look like Ink was gonna come out of the bathroom any time soon...

whether he should knock again and then just sit at the door to remind him constantly what he should be doing or not, Dream let his focus slip from reality. And as much as he _TRIED_ to ignore the tempting ideas...His thoughts swirled around his head and he slowly began to wonder through the world of a day dream.  
A lot of thoughts were on his mind. What was happening in Underswap? Why did the other universes seem to be affected by the event as well? What was the reason behind all of it..? How did his brother react when it all happened?  
Huh... Wait... How _did_ Nightmare react to the big event?

The guardian of dreams slowly remembered how he, himself, acted during the process of the so called 'reset'..  
He recalled a very big headache a day before the event, the sign of a very positive universe, this time specifically Underswap, getting more and more negative. Little by little... He thought it was just Nightmare doing his thing, so he notified Ink. But when they checked Underswap, they saw no sign of Nightmare... There was no trace of him anywhere, like he was never even there in the first place..  
But he had to have been there! Why would the mood of one of the most positive timelines, start changing all of a sudden, otherwise?  
Yet there was not a single indicator to his presence. Dream didn't even sense him!  
The two just shrugged it off though and continued on their daily routine.

A day later, Dream's headache got progressively worse and worse as time went on.  
He decided against patrolling that day, only because the pain got _TO_ the point where he'd be laying in bed, painkillers by his side. He would be there, curled up in a ball and just quietly whining in his little cottage by the forest. Dream also felt a little bad. He'd have to reject the offer of visiting Blue.. And yet he was so excited for that visit...

It lasted for hours and hours... But then the pain just disappeared. As if with the snap of a finger.  
He had no idea what happened, but the keeper of hopes was just happy the headache was gone.

Usually when his headache left, it meant either the world went back to normal, or one of the universes with the same amount of positivity like the decreasing one got more positive and balanced the Multiverse out again.  
Before he could properly acknowledge his little victory, though, his phone was already ringing. Blue was calling from Ink's phone.  
And that's when he first saw the reset timeline of Underswap... It surprised him, but not as much as that the other universes were affected as well... They'd see the damages in detail whilst looking over Blue's timeline when it's gonna reset. They're going to patrol it's surrounding universes to see if the reset does anything to them.

Now, considering all that, Dream wondered what Nightmare went through during the weird anomaly. He thought that because he had a headache, Nightmare would feel the opposite. He probably became more powerful or was enjoying the whole thing.  
But that was just a guess.. He would never truly know. At least, so he thought..

He's gotten lost after a while, the labyrinth of questions and thoughts too confusing for him.  
When Dream finally got out of his trance, Ink was surprisingly out of the bathroom. He seemed to be clean aswell, so that was nice to see.  
"Oh..! You're done already!" Dream's smile brightened his cloudy mind up. "Yup..! Uuuh.... Why did I need to get cleaned up again..?"

At Dream's facepalm and chuckle, Ink shrunk a bit. "We're going to Sci to pick Blue up. Reasons why should be on your scarf. If not, I'll explain what I know" Dream reassured, walking over and getting out his golden staff.  
"But now we should go. Underswap could be resetting at any moment and if Blue's not there... You know what can happen.."

Trying to dismiss the sensitive topic, the dream keeper cleared his throat and summoned a portal instead.  
Yellow and sparkling, the portal shone like a lighthouse in the middle of the sea. A beacon of hopes and dreams.

Strangely enough, the magical portal gave off an electrical yet positive energy. Of course Ink couldn't feel it, unfortunately, but other... Normal.. People could.  
One of those people was also Nightmare Dream's brother, and also his biggest enemy, ironically.  
Dream was the protector of hopes, guardian of dreams, the one that represented the sun and the spirit that gave out positive feelings to others. People can even _FIND_ his aura.. intoxicating. They seemed to get almost drunk off of it when exposed to a lot.  
They just wanted _mor_ e.. More hopes, more happiness, more dreams!  
It would come to the point of being even dangerous for the more positive twin to be around those people..

That's why Nightmare, his twin brother, helped him.  
He was the guardian that looked after the more negative feelings. He brought people nightmares so they realized their fears and extracted positive feelings when it started to get too much.  
He was the twin that represented the moon and it's starry sky, along with all those beautiful stars that illuminated the darkness..  
But the people he gave his gifts to didn't see how much luck they had. Foolishly, they blamed Nightmare for their feelings and brought the once calm and kind skeleton to a decision he never even imagine he'd make.  
Nightmare becoming _Nightmare_ _.._ The Nightmare people knew today.

After their fight, Dream became a stone statue. As expected, he was freed by his friend and started helping him protect universes up to today..  
The decisions were made tho, and they were irreversible. His brother blamed him for everything that happened and made it his life goal to make Dream's life hell before killing him.

Because both twins could sense feelings, it was always a risk when Dream opened a portal.  
Since his portals give off positive energy, Nightmare is easily able to track him down. It could always become a problem, although Nightmare tends to try fighting Dream in a more negative environment than positive. It all comes to who has the advantage over the other, in the end..

Dream usually ignored the risk, tho. He had the immortal protector on his side, after all! Even tho Nightmare had an entire team of psychotic murderers on his own side, they were still just normal sanses. Maybe a little stronger, but they weren't _god_ s.  
Even tho The Destroyer helped them sometimes, he usually just hung in the back or kept Ink busy. So for Dream, he wasn't a very big issue when it came to _THE_ fights including Nightmare.

His priority in those fights, was to occupy and defeat his brother.  
Right now, his priority was Blue and his timeline, unfortunately.

He would make sure his best friend's home stays intact and livable.  
But frst he'd need to get his friend home nice and safe..  
That's why when they appeared in Sci's universe, at the table Dream left from, both friends started searching for the other two skeletons thoroughly. They didn't see them anywhere in the room.. Ink was about to question, but Dream assured him he was positive he knew where Sci and Blue were.

You see... Before Dream got the text from Ink and left to get him, the dreamer and the scientist were talking.  
Sci mentioned he'd prep the second machine for Blue while he was gone. It was supposedly across the hallway from the room they were sat in at the time.

Sci described it as a large room with different important machinery and chemicals in it.. From Sci's description, about 35 people could fit into that one single room. It was pretty impressive for his small lab, but Dream has seen bigger rooms..  
The space was closed off by a tall, iron door. The handle was made of quarts and the walls next to them were delicately marbled..

He said it was a rather more... Important room. It was used as a storage space, but also as a testing room. Sci and his assistants would use that very room to experiment with healing magic, medicine.. Even tested it on some monsters there.  
Scrap, needles, medical equipment, various chemicals and even the Magic X-ray Machine he'd be using on Blue later on. It was all stored in that one single room.

Before Dream left, Sci mentioned he'd be carefully disinfecting the equipment he'd be using on Blue. He wanted Blue to go home with no complications. That included him dying of an infection because the needle wasn't cleaned properly...  
Now... That worried Dream quite a lot. He would've questioned Sci further on the topic, but didn't have the time to do so -since he was off to get Ink. Surely, if Dream knew of all the complications that could've gone wrong beforehand, he would've seeked more information!  
But since Sci only briefly mentioned it while he was falling through his portal, Dream must've not processed the info like he should have.. Yeah, definitely.

Never mind.. Too late to get worked up over that now!  
Now that they knew where to go, they would actually need to _get_ there.

They were already heading across the hall, both staring down the hallway at a large, shiny, iron door.

Their pace quickened, as if they were racing with time itself. Thankfully, the _PATH_ down the hall wasn't that long and they were soon at the entrance.  
They knocked a few times and waited.  
Every second, the silence from the lab made Dream more and more uneasy.  
It didn't have much of an effect on Ink, but that was fine nonetheless. Less people panicking, the better.

Fortunately, not a long time passed before Sci opened the door. He was wearing his lab coat from before and some surgical gloves. He was clearly keeping sanitary.

Tempering with any kind of soul was always risky. Be it medical reasons, in a fight, or with their own partner.  
The soul is the most vulnerable part of a being's body, so when a person has access to it, it's usually a big examination of trust. And maybe it doesn't seem like it, but it's the most fragile piece to a creature. Even the smallest of attacks straight through the soul, and it will _shatter_ into millions of pieces! No matter the person's HP..

Naturally, Blue looked terrified handing out his soul to Sci.  
Right when they walked in, the small skeleton was sitting down on a surgical table. He was shirtless and his heart-shaped soul floated in front of his ribcage. Dream wasn't surprised at the face he was making.  
He was fiddling with his fingers and his legs were shaking.

Dream felt bad, but he had to accept Sci's orders and sit on some chairs in the corner. His urges had to be ignored and set aside. As much as the guardian wanted to run up to his friend and comfort him, he couldn't.  
Sci needed to focus on his work, and if Dream tried to do anything, he could cause some complications.

So he just sat there, waiting...

The whole process seemed to be going nicely, tho. Blue seemed to take in the liquified LV positively. His HP increased and didn't seem to reject it. That was good... That was good... For now..

They'd see the actual result after Underswap resets.

But now that the second test started, they needed to get the younger skeleton home..


	7. Seven more until it's everywhere..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink talks about all kinds of things. Yay

  
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**_7_ **

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As soon as Ink and Dream escorted their younger friend home, they hopped to a different world for safety.  
And rightfully so! When Blue arrived, it was as if a switch was flipped. The whole universe started resetting itself way more faster than before. Buildings getting fixed up, snow becoming crystal clear again, holes in the ground sealing up... It almost looked like a time lapse video some person posted on social media.

Certainly, the environment is the first and the fastest part to load. Textures and colors being pretty easy for the code to handle.  
It was done half way through Ink's work, in fact. Patrolling the universes around Underswap, he was done looking over the damaged ships of PirateTale when Dream sent him a message. In that message, he went over the situation happening in the Swap world and visibly tried to say as much information as he could, without making the message too long..

' _Swap's_ _reset_ _seems_ _to_ _be_ _going_ _quite well._ _I'm_ _starting_ _to_ _slowly feel_ _the_ _emotions_ _and_ _memories_ _loading_ _from_ _the_ _code_ _,_ _so_ _it_ _seems_ _like_ _the_ _second_ _phase_ _has_ _started_ _._ _When_ _you're_ _done_ _finding_ _out_ _the_ _amount_ _of_ _damage_ _in_ _the_ _other_ _Aus_ _,_ _meet_ _me_ _in_ _UT;_ _timeline#009's_ _forest_ _._ _I'm_ _hiding_ _right_ _outside_ _of_ _Snowdin_ _._ _Be_ _sure_ _to_ _notify_ _me_ _when_ _you're_ _done_ _so_ _I_ _can_ _send_ _you_ _more_ _detailed_ _coordinates_ _of_ _my_ _location_ _._ _Be_ _careful_ _,_ _see_ _you_ _soon_ _!_ '

Ink was pretty sure he'd forget all that in only a few moments, but still decided to write it down on his scarf. There wasn't any hurt in doing that, anyway.

After doing that, the artsy skeleton wrote down the damages done in PirateTale into a small notebook and then hopped through an inky portal to a different Au.   
The same thing repeated for quite a lot of universes. From CandyTale to ChocoTale, LittleTale to Timetale... It all went the same. Check the damages on the environment and the people, write it all down and then repeat it in a different world.

It wasn't quite an interesting task to do, so after a while, Ink decided to cut it short. He went through at least four hundred universes already and soon discovered that after about the fifth ring, there was almost no damage. No broken down buildings, no injured people...   
Everything seemed to be fine there.   
So he saw an opportunity to cut it off. Instead of _LOOKING_ at almost three thousand separate universes, he made the choice to look at only the first one thousand or so. That way, he would check what's needed, yet not waste time with the universes that were undamaged.

Bored out of his a mind from repeating the same thing over and over for a long time, Ink let out a sigh of relief when he was done with the last universe in Underswap's side of the Multiverse. Finally, he'd get to do something different. Talk to Dream, and soon maybe even go to Underswap! He'd finally get to investigate on the Glitch matter again. I mean.. Don't get him wrong, he didn't enjoy the fact that it could still very well be Multiverse-threatening, but this was finally an opportunity to experience something different.

Because neither him, Sci, Dream nor supposedly Error knew what happened just a small while ago, it was all certainly intriguing.

Ink has gotten a little bored over the past few decades. Always the same routine every patrol, always the same patterns in his fights with Error, always the same Aus... Nothing was as appealing to him anymore as it was before. Yes, trying to befriend his opposite and defending the universes still occupied him, but it was never different. He'd always say the same words, always get the same answers and then they'd fight like they always did.   
But... With the whole... Underswap situation, the soulless being found itself coming up with scenarios in his head about what it could result in. And that was only a few moments after the first encounter with Blue..

It was a whole new thing to worry about, and in a way, it excited Ink.   
No, he wasn't happy it could all be threatening to his home, but he couldn't help but drink vials to feel excited. It was just... A new territory he'd never come across before and it intrigued him to no end!

He wasn't planning on saying that to Dream, though. He didn't expect him to understand why he wasn't as worried.. Other than being soulless, of course.

But all that aside, Ink would try his best to protect anything and everything if something were to go down. Be it a timeline, person, friend, enemy.. He always believed everyone deserved to live. Thus why he never tried to actually kill Error or Nightmare..

Dream would probably not enjoy Ink killing Nightmare, anyway. Even tho the more edgy twin tried to destroy him at any chance he got, Dream still considered Nightmare as his brother. For now...   
The artist knew Dream was gonna snap eventually.. Sooner or later, he'd stop trying. Just a matter of time.

Huh.. Speaking of the bright skeleton, Ink was currently trying to find him.. He basically WALKED _THROUGH_ the whole forest, but he swore to whatever all powerful being there was, that Dream was in either a different world, different timeline or... Something! There was no way he was here..

Though... Ink didn't check the part of the forest that's in _THE_ town of Snowdin . He didn't go past Papyrus' bridge, assuming Dream meant 'right by' as in being able to see the small village, but not being close enough to get caught.. But it would be worth a check.

Looking around himself to make sure no monster was around, the short skeleton quickly sprinted across the bridge and then dove right back into the cover of the woods.

Slightly relieved, the skele looked around.   
And behold! There, a little farther into the forest, was a yellow lump. It wasn't super visible, but he'd still need to tell Dream his hiding spot wasn't the best..

As he got closer and closer, _NOW_ the lump gave out more detail. He noticed the all too familiar golden crown, along with Dream's orange sun design on his cape. He was facing the other way, Only the cape and the back of his head showing.

So like any person would do in this situation, Ink decided to scare him to death. He crept up behind the unsuspecting victim, stopping every time the snow crunched too loudly. Dream didn't seem to react tho, so he soon continued.

When he got close enough, he jumped right behind his friend and grabbed his shoulders.   
At the same time, he whisper yelled an unintentionally loud "Dream!".

His surprised friend screamed at the top of his nonexistent lungs, turning around and summoning his bow.   
To Ink's amusement, Dream kept pointing the sharp arrow at him even after Ink drank most of the yellow paint he had and started quietly laughing.

" Ink what the hell?!" Dream tried to catch his breath, frowning at the monster that just scared him. "Oh my god Dream! You should've seen yourself!" The criminal in question laughed.

After a few more quiet moments, Dream's bow finally dropped down on the ground. "Ha ha.. So funny. You know I could've shot you there, right?"

"Yep! And I regret absolutely nothing!" The latter snorted, plopping down and sitting in the snow with the now still calming down skeleton.

"You are such a jerk... Have you at least found anything useful while looking around?" Brightening up, the former decided to change the subject to a more important one.

Trying to find the right words, Ink took a small pause.   
"Uuuh... I mean.. Yeah.. I found out the closer a world is to Underswap, the bigger are also the damages. The farther away, the less damage done."

Although the response caused a small frown to appear on the other guardian's face, he still nodded.   
"Huh... Curious.. It's like a mix of internal coding damage symptoms and physical symptoms.."

"Yeah... I found that strange as well. It's pretty much like that one time when [][][][] Dissapeared. Everything was fine and then boom! The whole world is gone." Ink threw his arms around dramatically, emphasizing the word 'boom'

"Ink.. I've told you countless of times before. [][][][] doesn't exist and it never had in the past!" Dream assured.   
"You used to talk about it to everyone you met. Saying how the story went, how the monsters looked like, but there is no such universe like that and there never was. Don't you think I would remember a world with such a bright story..?" Dream sighed, his arms crossing on top of his chest.

In return, Ink glared at the snow below them. The memories of the lovely Au slipped inside his mind, taking his attention for themselves..

[][][][] was a universe that existed a long time ago. Back when Dream and Ink barely knew eachother and Ink was still figuring out all his powers.   
One day, it's main copy got attacked and erased by Error.

In a matter of a few moments, the whole Universe was gone. Every single timeline was erased, every copy corrupted and only a black void remained.   
That was also the first time Ink saw a Multishift happen. The whole Multiverse shook liked an anxious person for a second before going back to normal.

Nothing seemed to change until he realized everything that remained from [][][][] was an empty space between worlds. It confused him, so of course he asked around some people he trusted. He asked Core, Reaper.. But neither of them recalled a universe like that.  
Again, confused, Ink tried to ask different people. He asked Dream, but still nothing..

Another strange thing that caught his notice was Error's sudden dissapearence right after. He went off radar for a very long while, and at times, Ink thought Error was erased with the Universe. After talking to the same people, but asking about Error instead, he found out they still remembered him. It didn't fully make the thought dissapear, but the sudden reappearance of the destroyer did.

It also erased every other thought. Because when Error came back, he came back in style!   
The ash-coloured skele managed to destroy 13 whole universes in just one go. No matter how much Ink fought like a lion, Error still managed to take them down.

And because of that, a few patrols later, Ink tried to catch Error and question him about what happened.

Of course, the whole attempt failed. When he finally managed to trap Error for questioning, he denied everything -- as expected.  
  
Although, after apparently becoming 'too annoying to handle' Error started his usual spitting of insults. Saying how [][][][] was a stupid, useless, ugly and disgusting abomination.

It didn't seem important at the time, but Ink soon realized what Error had admitted back then.   
Ink now knew Error remembered... Because he never said which Au disappeared.

...

"Ink..?" Dream waved a hand in front of his friend's face. "Ink! Hello?" He flicked the latter's forehead, finally earning a reaction.

"Wha.. What..? What is it Dream?" Ink blinked and looked around, fully coming back to his senses. "Uuh... You were spaced out for a bit there.. You alright?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking.." Ink smiled. It was technically the truth, but he wanted to avoid that particular topic right _NOW_.. "What were you thinking about?" Dream nudged him slightly, chuckling.

Panicking a little after the question was said, Ink tried to think about a good cover-up story.   
The Underswap situation? No...   
Sci..? No. What else could he ask..?   
Maybe something about Undertale..?   
Oh.. Wait!

"Just wondering why you chose this timeline of Undertale." Ink shrugged.

In response to that, Dream smiled and happily explained. "Well... As you know, the Multiverse can be devided into a positive and negative 'realm'. The Universes that are more positive lie more on the Underswap's side, and the negative ones more on the Underfell side. Well, you also know I'm trying to figure out when Underswap is done resetting. When I feel emotions radiating from the monsters, that's usually when a universe is loaded. So..." He cleared his throat.

"I also need a good space to do so. If I were to be in LittleTale for example, the overwhelming emotions would distract me. Same for a negative Au.   
And this timeline of Undertale seems to be a neutral run, so a perfect world for me to be in right now...  
Hey, wait.. Are you even listening? Hey! Ink!"

As soon as the guardian noticed Ink's _CLOSED_ eyes and realized he wasn't listening, he tried to get his attention. Which didn't seem to be working...

Maybe Ink should've chosen a cover-up he'd actually be interested about..

Like how Error uses a _WINDOW_ to look into universes without going inside..  
Actually.. How DOES he do that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter.. I procrastinated way too much while writing it and rewrote it like five times..   
> Funny thing is you can tell when I got tired because it got worse and worse the more you read on. Oops! Destroying my sleep schedule again :D
> 
> Also, I apologize, but the reason why it's a little late is because I rewrote it from scratch today. It's still bad, but I tried.. Hope you like this unimportant, short, crappy chapter. 
> 
> Have a great day/night! 
> 
> ~Dovey


	8. Six warriors

  
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**6**

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The snow crunched under the feet of monsters, it's tiny particles flying through the thin air. A sweet cinnamon scent of freshly baked spider-donuts loomed out of the nearby Muffet's and teased the noses of two skeleton guardians that walked amongst the civilians. Surely if they could, they'd abandon all responsibilities and follow the scent like breadcrumbs.

But alas, they couldn't. Way too many things swirled around in their heads, blending together into a milkshake of thoughts. Way too many responsibilities crawled on their backs, and way too many questions hung on their tongues.  
Of course, they still could've grabbed a few and eat them while on the way to their friend's house... But Dream suspected the donuts would taste weird- since they're made FOR spiders, BY spiders... and OF spiders..  
Muffet tried to convince him to eat one every time they walked by, but Dream always refused. He wasn't going to take the risk...

It was quite funny, in fact. Dream, the same monster that spreads positivity everywhere he goes. The same guy that is kind to every human and monster he encounters, wasn't a very big fan of spiders..   
Of course, Muffet was a slightly different case, but the donuts weren't.

Although, Ink wasn't sure if Dream didn't want to eat the sweet food because he _feared_ the spiders that were supposedly in them, or if he just _felt bad_ for the small creatures.

Pretty strange..  
He never complained like that about Blue's.. Uuh, interesting tacos. Their small friend seemed to a have a special place in Dream's heart. Ink guessed that was the point of being friends? Or Dream just had a very weird taste in food..  
Eh.. Ink couldn't blame him, tho. He himself took a secret liking to burnt food.

But speaking of the small's cooking, the two skeletons were bracing themselves on the way to his home. Who knew what Blue managed to cook after just a few minutes? He was capable of a lot, but the less time he had on his hands, the more he improvised. With ingredients, heat, tools, cooling time... Everything was like a race to Blue, when it came to cooking.

It was pretty interesting, in Ink's opinion. To the soulless creature, cooking seemed like a tedious task, hence why he often nearly starved himself to death. If Dream or Blue weren't there to constantly remind him of it, Ink would probably have a lot more deaths on his name.

Ah, but did it really matter? He was immortal anyway. Dying always hurt, but it wasn't like Ink would not come back eventually..

..........

Now in front of the house, Dream's knuckles firmly knocked on the wooden door.

In a matter of seconds, the door was opened, and a small ball of excitement jumped out of the house.   
"Dream! Ink! Hello you two! I was waiting for when you come by. I even made Tacos!" Blue claped his hands a few times, confirming his excitement even more.   
Although Ink didn't really understand why Blue was so glad they arrived, he was proud of himself for guessing correctly. Blue has, indeed, cooked some tacos. And who knew what they were made of?

Both of the guardians greeted him back. "I'm surprised you're here so early. Come on in!"   
Upon the welcome, they walked inside and invited themselves to sit on the generic couch. 

Closing the door behind them, and Blue was soon back in the kitchen, already putting the tacos on the plate. Two each, Ink remembered.

When back in the room, the plates were handed to Dream and Ink. "So! Anything new about the sudden anomaly?"   
Enthusiastic... was the right word to describe Blue's behaviour, which was strange, since this subject was a possible downfall of their timeline.

But Ink decided to lie nonetheless. "No.. Not really... A few small details but that's it." He eyed the taco in his hand warily, but decided to take a bite anyway. The taco was surprisingly tasty...

"Mmm! That's quite good! How'd you make this so quickly?" Ink raised a brow at Blue's small giggle, expecting him to say he put something horrible into it, but was pleasantly surprised by his next words. "They were already in the fridge when I woke up. Don't know how long they were in there, but it doesn't look like they were there for long... I'm 90% sure they're not moldy from the inside.."

Perhaps Blue's tacos just needed some sitting time and then they were edible?

"Anyway... I've been thinking if.... If there was any way I could help you guys crack this mystery?" Blue's expression grew serious, and he cleared his throat. "Well... Nothing bad happened after the reset just now.. Everything went normally.."

"Blue... I-... _W_ _E_ 're not sure. What if it's dangerous for you?" Dream shifted on the couch to get more comfortable, then spoke again. "Sci said you'd need to wait a few days before a new test could be done.."

"But that's for testing! He didn't say anything about patrolling with you guys again, nor did he ever say anything about me trying to find the cause myself."

The words were true. Sci never said that.   
"I guess you're right.. We still can't let you patrol with us until Sci says it's fine, tho." Dream rejected the helping hand, thinking it could be too risky. Although, he decided to continue on for a little bit more and explain his reasoning. "We trust Sci.. He's been helping us with all kinds of stuff, and never failed. If he says you can't leave your universe until we figure everything out, then we'll trust him."

"Why not ask him then?" Blue insisted, determined stars lighting up his eyesockets.  
And to his satisfaction, the guardian quickly gave in.

They... Or more exactly... _Dream_ agreed to talk to Sci after their visit to Underswap. And with that, the argument was over. And the subject was changed.

The friends talked for a short while, exchanging their views on the Underswap occasion. Blue sobbed and whined, pouring his heart out about the failed anniversary festival. He was so excited for it, and it flopped.. Oh the sheer disappointment that downed on him when he realized that festival will probably never happen again. Who knows if the human will ever decide to do a pacifist! And there was even less of a chance they'd stop resetting!

All of them could only hope Chara will remember what happened, or they do a no-kill run soon..Because there was little to no chance of everything going back to what it was.

Ink jokingly suggested to look for the player and ask them if they could go on a pacifist run. He was surprised when the others agreed, probably not getting the hint that he was joking.

It took a little while for him to _FOCUS_ _,_ but eventually..."Well... They should still be up somewhere in the ruins.." Ink spoke.

He guessed, and he was right. Since the player only started their playthrough a few moments ago, they were only at the 'dangerous' spike puzzle at the start.

Toriel had just lead them through it, and Ink could already tell they weren't going on a pacifist run.

They definitely weren't doing a genocide, either, tho. They just... Looked like they were a newbie. As if going through the underground for the first time. And sure, if a True Reset was what happened, he wouldn't be surprised that much. But after the true reset, there was a second, normal reset. But even then, the human seemed to look confused. Looking at each puzzle hint, startling and being upset when the candy bowl toppled over, failing the switch puzzle multiple times and getting very frightened when meeting Napstablook.

Right after Napstablook, Chara bought two spider donuts- barely having enough gold.

When they continued on, Ink jumped in front of them from around the corner.

"Hello there, pal!" He greeted, startling them again. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!   
Wait... What monster are you? Haven't seen something like you yet. Oooo... Wait, is this a boss?" The child prepared their stick, a determined look on their face.

"THIS early into the game?? Wow! The developers went all out on this!" They grinned, looking slightly amused.   
Wait... All the develo-what?   
Game? What were they talking about??

"Deve..? Nevermind..   
No, I'm not a boss monster. I'm just here to ask you a question! That's all." Ink put his arms up in defence, backing up. "Are you willing to talk?"

"This is new.. I get choices? Daaaaamn!" They beamed, nodding and putting their stick away.

"Suuuure..." They soon squinted their eyes.  
Ink realized that, for some reason, they were suspicious. Of what, he didn't know yet.   
"Alrighty...   
Do you, by any chance, remember anything that happened before the last True Reset?"

Foolish. Ink was foolish for asking that question HEAD _ON_ _._ He knew that. But he had very little time.

"True Reset? What True Reset?? I swear I just loaded this up, guys. Is this suppose to happen??" Chara squinted their eyes on the ceiling and scrunched up their nose, expression that of a confused puppy.

"Oookay then. Well, that will be all for now. Good luck with your journey through the underground, and don't kill my friend!" He joked, winking before making an inky portal.

Just as the human screeched in surprise at his skill, he jumped into it and appeared a few rooms ahead.

Ink needed to check the other part of the ruins..  
As much as the wanted to mess with the strange Chara, earlier, he and Dream decided to patrol the whole underground for any changes.

To make it both faster _and_ easier, the two split the universe in half.

Hotlands, Core and New Home were patrolled by Dream, while the Ruins, Snowdin and Waterfall were on Ink.

The artist would need to start going on his way, if he didn't want to spend a lifetime in this universe.   
He had so many ideas for painting, tho! Ink was definitely doing at least one art piece of the view Blue described from the reset when he comes home.  
Everything glitched out, fizzed, buzzed...   
He couldn't move, couldn't hear himself, couldn't scream for help..

Oh, he could definitely envision it now. So many emotions! Even tho he didn't have feelings himself, the artist would try his best to make his soon-to-be new creation radiate a mix of emotions that would surprise everyone that looks at it.  
Maybe he could even try a different style! He could do more of a cartoony painting..? It would be strange to paint, but it would still be fun, if not more.

Something bold and bright, to catch attention when looking around the room.   
Yes! Definitely! He had such a good idea.. But it would have to wait for now. First, he needed to do his job. Only then he can have some time to relax.

Even tho his work wasn't all that hard at the moment, it was a little boring. Just looking through all the rooms and nothing else.   
But It was still a little bit of a surprise when he found himself humming to the tune of a music box. _THE_ one in waterfall, that held THE key to the artifact room.

He rarely sung, but since it was mostly quiet in the Ruins, he welcomed the tune that sounded from his mouth. Not much else to cure the boredom with anyway.

He still had a long way to go, after all. He only managed to finish looking over Asgore's house just now, and Snowdin was still waiting for him- along with Waterfall. He had to keep going. It was _INEVITABLE_ to continue his work.

...

All the thoughts of painting soon left his head, and Ink was met by the familiar quiet in his head. It was only for a little while tho, because soon...

 _Soon_ _he'd_ _have_ _no_ _time_ _for_ _quiet_ _..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this updating late. I'll try to put out a few more chapters next week to make up for it   
> :) 
> 
> ~Dovey


	9. Five gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink is confused all the time
> 
> Dream has Strawberry tea
> 
> Ink has Cinnamon Apple tea and is worried about his future bea.. Or will he be his bea?

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_**5** _

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Waterfall was a very calm place. To many monsters, _STILL_ the favorite section of the underground.

Whether it was due to the echo flowers that were scattered across the ground, the two cheerful shopkeepers that sold their goodies to people that passed them or the permanent presence of water... People generally liked Waterfall.

While getting lost looking at the fake lit up stars, you could spend hours upon hours just enjoying your time there. Well, unless it started raining... in certain areas..

Some people enjoyed when the cold water ran down their faces, and some hated it to their core.

Ink usually wouldn't care. Since he had magic to dry his clothes, and didn't have flesh that would make him freeze, he didn't normally get frustrated when droplets of water fell on top of his skull.

Today was different, tho, because he didn't know why he was there.  
Ink knew he was suppose to be patrolling Underswap from The Ruins, all the way to Waterfall, but that's all the info his notes provided him with.

Thankfully, his notebook showed him he made a checklist of every room he was suppose to look at.

Sitting on a small patch of grass, Ink figured out he put a green check mark on every room he already visited in The Ruins, but although the list continued on to Snowdin and eventually Waterfall, no room beyond the first area was marked done.

It frustrated him, because he couldn't find an answer to why he was already in the last room. If he went a little further, he'd end up at the start of Hotland. Which was confusing, because most of the places he needed to patrol were still unchecked- according to his list.

The most plausible reason is that he just forgot to check off the rest of his destinations. But what if he didn't actually go through them? What if, for whatever reason, Ink wanted to check Waterfall before Snowdin?

Although any sane person would choose to follow the list and double check all the unmarked areas, Ink didn't really have the time to do so... If he already checked everything and decided to have another look, he would meet Dream late, and he really didn't want to hear the lecture that would follow after.

But, if he didn't look through anything else other than The Ruins, he could miss something. An important detail that could change their whole viewpoint on the stuff that happened..

Although.. What CAN he actually find? A missing monster? A minor detail? A few centimeters of some rock missing?  
Of course, that was unrealistic. It would take a much longer time than the 1-2 hours they already had, not to mention small imperfections would be impossible to find..  
Plus, this whole ordeal is probably just worrying about a stupid glitch... Error would do his job eventually, and then everything would go back to normal.

..  
..

Yeah...definitely..  
He hoped, at least.

..  
..

And with that in mind, Ink just let the though slip away from his mind completely. It was probably a good idea to write the cause of his small frustration into his notes, but it was too late to do that! Now, at least..

Still, Ink decided to push every though aside and walk to the two skeleton brothers' house. He was already halfway through Waterfall, so it was just a few corridors, paths and bridges ahead. _He_ _made_ _his_ _choice_ _._

.... But something didn't feel right..  
Every time he turned a corner, he felt as if all the monsters in the underground were looking at him. A simple feeling of being judged for every action, every step, every move.  
At times, he thought he heard small whispers from somewhere behind him. Quiet gossiping about all sorts of things... But every time he turned around, they stopped, and he didn't see anyone..  
He figured it was just paranoia, for whatever reason..  
Or maybe he's just gotten more crazy.

Every step he took felt like a mistake. Like he was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. It was as if he was stepping on a thousand cockroaches each time he moved forward. Wrong, but satisfying in a weird way..

A strange feeling accompanied all of that. Sort of like a thick blanket, it curled itself around the poor skeleton and sent pitiful shivers up his spine. Small, but sharp tingles.

He tried _IGNORING_ all those things and just focus on his destination, but the chilling aura trailed behind him everywhere he went.  
The blanket squeezed the air out of his nonexistent lungs and the distance between him and his friend seemed too long.. The haunting aura didn't want to leave the artist alone! It made him anxious, fearful, but how?? He didn't remember drinking his anxiety mix..! It should be impossible to feel like this without his paints..

Somehow, he feared something. He wasn't _suppose_ to fear anything at the moment, but he was... It seemed unreal, impossible, but it was happening in front of his own eyes.  
He didn't like it... For a small amount of time, it felt like he was powerless against some emotions! The emotions that weren't even _his_ _._

Eventually, the confused and freaked out skeleton decided to speed up his pace.  
He stopped paying attention to his surroundings and just quickly made his way into Snowdin. The crispy snow crunched under his naked feet, and when he saw the all too familiar roof of Blue's house, he became a little more relaxed.

That was... Very weird..? If that's the right word..  
The artist didn't know why that happened,- nor what happened in general.. He didn't know if to tell his friends about it, or just keep it a secret.   
Because yes, it was unlike anything he's ever experienced before, but this patrol isn't about _him_ .. It's about Blue's universe. He shouldn't worry his friends' minds over some paranoia he experienced for the first time... It would just take their minds off of the important issue they were currently facing..

So he made his decision... He'd keep it a secret from both of his colleagues.. At least for the time being.  
' _If_ _something_ _reveals_ _that_ _weird_ _thing_ _is_ _apart_ _of_ _what_ _happened_ _to_ _Blue's_ _AU_ _,_ _then_ _I'll_ _tell_ _Dream_ _.._ ' Ink swore to himself, even though he didn't know if he'd keep the promise..

Keeping that in mind, the said guardian made his way to the cheerful sans' home. The only thing he needed to do was put on a facade. A fake smile and hide what just happened. All easy things. He just wasn't allowed to mess up. It would be too complicated to explain.

Taking a deep breath and letting his mouth settle into a relaxed grin, Ink walked up to the door.  
Instead of knocking, he took out his pencil and grabbed his scarf. This occurance was something he didn't want to forget. His vision of it was already blurry, so he needed to write fast. Short words, simple sentences. No detailed description, just scribbling something down. It would probably not be that important in the future anyway, so why write a full novel about it?  
  


After writing down all the weird elements he experienced in Waterfall, Ink put away the pencil and knocked on the wooden door.  
Not even five seconds later, it was over-exaggeratedly swung open by Blue. "Oh, Ink!," was his welcome "You're already here!" Blue beckoned him inside, and after greeting him back, the short artist complied. "Me and Dream didn't realize you'd come back so soon, especially after what happened at The Core!" Blue smiled somewhat awkwardly.

... Even tho Ink didn't know what happened at _THE_ Core, he figured asking about it would bring him attention he didn't need at the moment..

Meanwhile, clearing his throat, "That's why I didn't make you tea yet.. Uuuh... Give me a minute or two!" his friend ran into the kitchen - presumably to make tea..

Ink decided to sit down on the couch that was in the living room, his other friend already sipping his own tea and waiting for him.  
"Hi, Ink.." Dream waved, seeming content. Oh thank the stars his friend couldn't read his 'emotions' ... "Hey," Ink smiled."What kind of tea is that?"

"Strawberry."  
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Ink was never really good at small talk...

"Oh, cool.. Did you find anything on your side of the underground?"  
Immediately changing the subject... Communication skills on point..!

"I'm not quite sure... I definitely saw _something_ weird in the behavior of monsters... I don't know if it was because of that 'glitch' though..." The guardian of positivity sipped on his drink, a small frown settling on his face.

 _"Wait, what do you mean?" Ink got a little confused. "Monster behavio_ _ur?"_  
"I mean that the residents were acting weird... Basically... There were just _SIGNS_ of something being wrong, not anything obvious.." Dream shrugged. "Just subtle traits.."

"Like.. different dialogues than normal?"  
"Not really..," Dream visibly shivered, putting his cup of strawberry tea on the table and swallowing the sip of the drink in his mouth. "There was simply... This strange aura around all of them.. It reminded me of my brother.. And not in a good way.." The guardian looked down.  
He snapped his fingers, not finding the right words to correctly describe his thoughts."It was very... Weird... It just felt like multiple auras in every monster. As if one monster was actually two souls in one body... Does that make sense?"

No.... It really didn't... At least not to Ink.  
"Oh... Yeah, that seems really out of place.. I think we should talk to Sci about it." Ink frowned. That really didn't seem normal. He didn't need to be a scientist to know that. Although, to decide if it was something very bad, he DID need to be a scientist. Or in this case, needed Sci to help...  
"Either way... What about you, friend? Did you discover anything that could be useful?" The less artistic protector asked.

Wait... Did Ink actually find anything? His memory was being shady with him again... Curse his gold fish brain!  
Luckily, he had his scarf to somewhat help him.

"Nope.. Not a single sign of danger to this universe. Went through every room I was suppose to , didn't notice anything.. Not even any weird monster behavior." The artist believed. "That's why It surprised me when you said that about the people you came across..."

"Ah.. Well, that's good to hear at least..." Before finishing the sentence, Blue chirped into the conversation.  
"Tea is ready! What are you guys talking about?"  
Ink took the hot cup from his friend's hands. "Thanks, Blue! We're just talking about what we found. Dream said something about the monsters being weird, which we should talk to Sci about... I didn't find anything. " Ink roughly explained.

Blue plopped down onto the couch next to Dream.  
"Oh! Yeah, Dream told me about his patrol already! It seems super creepy... But hopefully it doesn't mean there's something very wrong in my universe.." Ink agreed. "Yup, hopefully.. Still, we need to inform Sci either way."

They also needed to ask Sci about Blue's question... They needed to know if Blue, his and other Aus were safe if he patrols with the artist and his friend.

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The two guardians stood in front of a large door. A _very_ large door, actually.  
Sci's lab always had big, technological stuff all over it. Apart of it, was this giant door. Purely white, with a keypad and a handprint scanner right next to it..  
Even the loudest, harshest knock on the door in front of them would seem insignificant. And since Dream wasn't all that much of a harsh knocker, it barely made any sound.

But both of them knew Sci very well. The door had some sort of automatic mechanism, with a bell attached to it.  
It would always notify the scientist if anyone wanted to be invited in.  
With innovations, electronic technology and such, Sci also managed to get around his lab very fast, without wasting his magic. It also proved to be useful in getting to the front door very quickly.

The menacing door slowly creaked open. Not all the way, just enough for Sci to poke his head out and look at the visitors.  
"Oh... It's just you two.. I was wondering who the hell would come to my lab at _goddamn_ _four_ _am_ _._. What is it?" Tiredly, the third skeleton pushed the door further open, so the two could walk in. "I was just about to go to sleep.."

"We're sorry," Dream apologized. "But we found some stuff in Underswap we think you'd want to see.. We didn't know it was so early... Or rather so late in your Au.."

Sci brushed the apology away, sighing quietly. "It's fine... What did you find in Underswap? Is it something related to the 'glitch' or whatever it was..?"  
"Yeah... I think so.. There was this weird thing that I felt..."  
...

Ink just let Dream talk... He wasn't really up for taking part of the conversation anyway. He had better things to worry about... Like his mortal enemy, Error.

He was a little concerned about what happened to him. Last time he's seen him this injured was back when they first met. Error was caught in surprise by Ink. He didn't know there would be someone that would be such a good opponent to him at that time .. He hasn't even met Nightmare back then..!  
Error would constantly get an ass whoopin' when Ink arrived. Broken bones, dusted limbs, blood everywhere, you name it! Their fights used to be very one-sided.

Until Error started taking Ink's weaknesses into his advantage. He started learning. Every fight, he experimented with something new. New blaster techniques, new string manoeuvres..Again, you name it! He tried it all.  
Once acting like he finally gave up, until Ink came close, unprepared. _OF_ COURSE that was a trick. He struck him with every attack he had, and killed him for the first time..

...

Even tho these two have been breaking each other's bones almost every day for the past what... Fifty decades?  
The glitched skeleton's skull never got shattered like that before.. As far as Ink knew, of course... Cracked, yes, a lot, but had a chunk missing? Never!

Ink just hoped his rival was ok.. He wasn't gonna explain why. Not to himself, not to Blue, not to anyone.

...

"Also... Just a small question.." Seemed like the two almost finished talking... Cool, he didn't need to intervene. "Blue asked if he could continue to patrol other Aus with us. As I said, everything went according to plan, but do you think it's safe for both him, his world and the other worlds if he goes with us?"

Sci tried to furrow his nonexistent brows "hmmm... I don't have enough information to be 100% sure, but for now, you can bring him to some patrols. He doesn't seem to be a _DANGER_ to other Aus, so..   
You don't need to let him on patrols, but I think you can.  
Keep an eye on him tho... Everything should be good, but just in case, keep an eye out for anything strange."

"There was nothing wrong these past two tests, so he should be fine." He added.

And the verdict was final. Blue can go with them on AU patrols! They just needed to be careful.   
"That's great to hear! Finally something positive.. I think we should go tell Blue. We kind of left him in the middle of something." Dream smiled, satisfied with how it all ended.

Ink nodded. "I agree. Plus, I haven't finished drinking my cinnamon apple tea yet. It's gonna get cold!"

5 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back sissssss  
> Motivation and writer's block is a bishhhh
> 
> Did you miss me?  
> No?  
> Oh..
> 
> Good night, it's almost midnigh


	10. Four tears of fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new player joins the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like writer's block. 
> 
> I don't like art block either.
> 
> :(
> 
> ...
> 
> I also need to figure out how to put images into chapters on ao3  
> I need to figure out as fast as fffff

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4

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What was happening to him? It was as if Ink was disoriented.

He was looking around himself, dazed eyelights and half lidded sockets.. The waterfall's residents stared at him from a distance, whispering under their breaths as they passed him.

As Ink walked, he looked scared, confused... Like he didn't see what his stalker saw.

Or maybe he was just playing a role.. Acting frightened and innocent, because he knew someone was watching him.  
Maybe he wanted to put on a show for the one's around him, like he always does..

Just like when he chose to not check Snowdin.  
Who cares his friend asked Ink for help in New Home? He was the one who decided to abandon his duty after The Ruins.

Error knew Ink didn't care about what happened. Figured it was all just a stupid game for him.   
And now, Ink proved Error's words.

The artist looked to be a very strange creature. He wasn't that physically strong, but he was very agile, fast..  
Though, as seen on his mortal enemy, Error, he could still land a good blow.  
He really despised Ink for that.

Not to mention his cracked skull the artist was responsible for...  
Nightmare's team tried to heal it before he woke up, but failed. Terribly... The skull had a chunk still missing from it, and a crack webbed from it to about where his eyebrow would be. After Error woke up, he tried to patch it up himself. With strings, he closed the hole with a crosshatching pattern. It didn't look the best, but it was better than having a weak point on his body.

Error still considered himself lucky, though. If Ink hit him just a few inches lower, he would've hit his eye socket... If he wouldn't go blind completely, his eyesight would get even worse than it already was.  
It didn't make Error despise the protector any less.. It made the glitched skeleton hate him more, in fact.

Now, all the other monsters will most likely not be scared of him! I mean... Look at me! Error had a huge crack on his head! From what he heard Horror say, people found him less creepy than the other nightmares. They found him a way less threatening skeleton in general. Since he had a hole in his skull, he had to be weaker and have less HP, right?

Well... Not quite. Horror got his respect back by his very... Hungry... Personality. Devouring people alive was his strong suit.

But Error wasn't too keen on eating others. Maybe that was his mistake.

His main food was chocolate.  
Actually... He couldn't remember when he ate some normal food...  
It was Probably back before he was... Himself.

But he'll still eat the sugary goodness, no matter what! No one can convince him otherwise! That's probably why his bones broke so much during his fights with Ink, to be honest... Ah, fuck it.

"What's up, Error? The crack doing alright?" After some time, one of the nightmares, Dust, approached the darkly colored skeleton.  
Error could tell he was being careful. Rightfully so.

Ever since the big multiverse shake happened, the destroyer became more and more aggressive.  
Every now and then, the residents of the castle would catch him randomly punching walls, kicking into furniture..

It wouldn't be too much of an issue, since they were used to the group of nightmares destroying everything in their way.. But Error was also aggressive towards people. Be it the workers at the castle, the gang or hell, even Nightmare himself!

Error and the king were on peaceful terms with each other. One respected the other. But with how he fought with everyone at the castle these past few days, that might change soon..

"It's fine I guess." The destroyer snarled  
"Just know that doesn't make your healing any less shit. " He took his eye off of his target for a little moment, just enough to glare at Dust.

"Ah.. Yeah. None of us are good at _THAT_...  
Actually, I'm not sure if ANY sans is good at healing." Dust shrugged, standing next to him, but keeping his distance.

"Why are you watching the artist, anyway? Want us to charge at him?" Dust questioned.

"That's not your business. And no, that's for later."

"For now, that son of a bitch is in some sort of different trouble." The skeleton shrugged, motioning at the distressed artist.  
He wanted to be the one who hurts Ink, afterall. Ink will pay for everything he did... Protecting the stupid abominations; his friends, trying to calm Error down all the time..

He'll make sure Ink regrets it.

"Uuuh... Alright then, I guess.." The sans sighed, backing up a little.

When the ash colored skeleton looked back at his spying window, he noticed Ink and Dream already going back to Underswap. They were probably going to check up on Blue.

Nothing important should happen during that time.. It _WAS_ probably a good idea to go talk to Nightmare.  
Since he was most likely on his uncomfortable throne, it was also an opportunity to get a tiny walk. From his current place, it was about five minutes of walking.

It used to be the castle's garden, but now, there were no more flowers. Only vines that used to be roses. It's thorns were vicious, and kept any person away.

Although he never got to see it before Nightmare took over, I bet it was beautiful.

Too bad. It didn't matter now. 

The castle was split into two sections.  
_THE_ FIRST _one_ was what the nightmares called 'The Fun section'. It was the one further away from Error. There was a very large basement. Jail cells, torture devices, killing machines, prisoners and a staff only dedicated to the basement- who were most likely crazy. They weren't allowed to leave the small space and went upstairs only when they needed to eat, which was about every two days. Sometimes three, if Nightmare forgot to feed them. Like dogs..

They were like slaves, just working for their king.. But it seemed to be what Nightmare wanted. Brainless slaves that would do his work.. Error wouldn't question his desires..

Upstairs, there was a small part with a maze, some rooms with normal furniture, and a doorless room.

The room with no door was big, with no chairs, tables, windows or anything. Somewhat like a dancing hall.

A lot of times, they would use the space just for fun, but it was also used for hunting. The nightmares would sometimes just get one or two of their prisoners, let them loose in the whole section and give them a moment to hide or run off. Then they would chase them. They practiced both their agility and searching abilities. Horror also got to try out his tracking skills. Any scent, smell the victim had on him, he'd find him.

The gang would either straight up fight the prisoner, or let them run loose. One _MISTAKE_ , and the victim would end up eaten.  
Although, there wasn't really any other ending they would get. They always ended up either dying or getting thrown back into their cell. Just so they could use 'em some other time. Recycling?

Error got to experience the training once or twice.. Once taken part of it, but he deemed it to be way too easy and under his level. There wasn't enough hope in the victim..

...

The section had one big staircase that led to a room that held some simple weapons. Mainly knives.

There were no windows and there was only one exit. The one door lead to a long, empty hallway with torn up paintings of many previous owners.

Nightmare tore them up after his transformation, when he claimed the castle and made his renovation.  
It had a purple carpet on the floor, all stained with what looked like blood.  
Just like the whole section, it had no windows. Only one door on the other side.

That door lead to the second section. The one Error was in now. It was called:, 'the living section'.  
Yes, it was a stupid name, but the one who named it had a point..

It was occupied with all the things a monster needed to live. A big dining hall, a living room with fun activities, a storage room, many slaves, many guest rooms and one single; king sized bedroom. Then, there was also the throne room, where Error was headed.

Currently, Error was in a big room at the start of the castle. In front of him, there were two staircases, much like the two staircases at the start of The Ruins in Undertale.  
On the ceiling, a big, black crystal chandelier hung. It had a few candles lighting it up with blue fire.

He went up the stairs and through a big, wooden door.  
On the other side was the living room. A pool table, board games, card games, snacks.

If Error could, he'd surely stop to enjoy the food. But he had more important things to do right now.

...

Finally in the throne room, Error noticed the main attraction there right away. Nightmare.  
He'd sit on the throne for most of the day, ordering people around and reading some sort of book.  
Peaceful, if you didn't know who he was and what he did.

The scenery wasn't all that bad either. A tiny breeze flew through the whole throne room, even though the dark blue curtains tried to stop it.  
Moonlight illuminated the thirteen stairs you'd have to cross, if you wanted to get to the king's throne. And the throne itself looked majestic in the atmosphere the room brought. Looking down at everything beneath it. A true king's throne.

It was made of silver, the bottom imbedded into the stone floor.  
There were no cushions, thus why everyone was not sure how Nightmare could still sit on it after all these years..

Pieces of gold were perfectly set into the armrests, small pieces of Tanzanite and Purple Tourmaline sparkling from the throne.

Unfortunately, Nightmare wasn't the only occupant of the said space. His main guard and right hand, Cross, was there too. Sitting right next to the the throne like he always did.  
He always kept a watchful eye on his boss.

But let's be honest, most people in the castle knew the king wasn't just Cross' boss. There was clearly something else there.. No one dared to point fingers, though.  
Even when the collar hidden under Cross' turtleneck was obvious. Not to mention how they acted in privacy..

Maybe Cross was just another slave to the king of negativity. That would explain the collar.  
Maybe Nightmare messed with the poor boy's head, which would also explain how Nightmare was in private.

Either way, it wasn't Error's business. He didn't care. If Dream were to persuade Cross into joining him, the destroyer would not help the other twin. Error wouldn't save a mere slave, just so Nightmare can have his fun. 

Not batting an eye, the king of nightmares greeted him. "Hello, Error."  
But the other stayed quiet.

When Nightmare noticed it, he continued.  
"What brings _YOU_ to the throne room? I thought you wanted to be alone?" The dark skeleton questioned, tho he clearly didn't care what Error had to say.

"I decided to take a small walk.. Plus, I needed to talk to you about something." Nightmare raised a browbone at that.

"Talk to me? About what?" Nightmare pretended to be surprised, even letting out an obviously fake gasp.

Error huffed, rolling his eyes at the reaction he got.  
"Something you'd be interested participating in, or would be generally fond of."

Nightmare finally looked down from the book.  
He put a piece of fabric between the two pages he was reading and closed it afterwards.  
He straightened his posture and put the book on his lap.

"Oh..? How can you be so sure about that?" He questioned.

Error walked up the steps leading to Nightmare, stopping in front of his throne. "Because it involves your brother and his friends.."

The glitching creature didn't even flinch when Cross swiftly stood up and pressed a cold blade against his neck.

It was obviously a threat directed to Error, but he wasn't very bothered. He knew Nightmare wouldn't let Cross hurt him. He knew Nightmare was aware of the death wish his servant would bring upon himself.

The guardian of negativity put his hand up for Cross to sit down, and perked up. It wasn't an obvious one, but you'd learn the difference between him being, and not being interested after all the time Error has met up with his gang. You'd also learn all the boundaries.

"I want to finally get rid of Ink, and since you hate your twin brother, I reckon this will interest you." Error soon continued, waiting until Cross went back to his previous position before speaking.

"I found some of their new weaknesses, which I could use against them." He explained, a small grin taking it's place on his monotone face. 

"Well, why am I suppose to be apart of that?" Nightmare scoffed, frowning a little.  
" You know our deal, Nightmare. You help me, I help you." Error started.

"I was thinking... If you help me distract Dream for a certain amount of time, I would get him in your possession after.  
I just need him out of the picture while I deal with the rainbow barf and do my part of the plan" Error _MADE_ a suggestion, hoping the other would accept his offer.

"Hmm... If it gets Dream in one of my cells, locked and with no hope of getting out, I'm in." Nightmare agreed

"Good.. First, we need to-..." Error went to continue, when Nightmare made it clear he had something more to say.

"But I'm warning you, Error."  
He paused for a moment, as if he was second guessing  
"If I don't get what I want, in the end, you'll regret it. You know I will do anything to _return the favor."_ Nightmare threatened.  
But Error knew he was bluffing. He wouldn't dare. He's too coward for that.

But Error would play along his game for now.  
He didn't need the king's help in his plan, but it would be much easier if Nightmare was on his side. There wouldn't be that much work.

"I assure you, Nightmare. You'll get what you desire. Sooner or later during the plan. We just have to wait for the right time, and keep it quiet." The glitch promised.  
"Dream will be begging to get back to his friends."

"And Ink... Oh, that rainbow piece of shit..." He grinned.

"That little bitch is gonna pay for all the trouble he brought me..!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> If you're reading this, I want you to know, you're awesome :)
> 
> Have a nice day <3
> 
> Let me know what you think will happen in the book next in the comments!  
> I love reading all of your guys' opinions :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my first book on both this app, and in general.  
> This book has been in the works for a while now, but I'm finally getting it out there into the world.
> 
> It will focus mainly on the Multiverse of the bois, so Errink won't be that present right away. It's a story about the 'AU'/ 'Multiverse' that I created. Maybe I'll make some comics about it as well in the future :')
> 
> It's also on Wattpad. I'm writing it there first because it's way easier than writing it here..
> 
> Might also be because I'm quite new to this app :)  
> If you have any tips or tricks for AO3, please notify me in some way, it would mean a lot.  
> Updates will be once a week, or at least I'll try to. Sorry in advance if I won't keep my word sometime.  
> (!After quarantine, it's changing to two weeks!)
> 
> Thanks for reading and have a good day/night!
> 
> PS. Don't read into titles much. They don't mean anything ;)  
> ~Dovey


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